Via INN:

Fire fighters in northern Israel fought dozens of blazes that broke out during the day Wednesday, most of them around noontime.

A source in the Hadera Fire Services told News1 that due to the fact that numerous fires broke out in a relatively limited area, the working assumption is that they were deliberately set. “We still do not know how the fires were set and we do not have details about the arsonist or arsonists,” he said.

Fire in northern Israel, February 2009 (Israel news photo: Flash 90)

Initial investigations by fire fighter squads in the numerous fire locations found a likelihood of arson. “This is man-made terror,” a fire commander said. “Fires don’t just break out on their own.”

Via INSS.org:

* International law and the UN Charter recognize the inherent right of states to use force in self-defense against an armed attack. The right applies even if the attack is by irregular forces.

* Hamas has not denied that its attacks were targeted at Israeli towns; such attacks are a violation of the laws of war. The IDF correctly saw itself as being bound by the laws of war in its conduct, notwithstanding the total disregard of these rules by its opponents.

* The IDF repeatedly warned civilians of impending attacks, using leaflets and mass telephone messages. It does not appear that any other military has ever taken such steps to minimize civilian casualties, nor is there any other similar conflict on record in a built-up area where the percentage of civilian casualties in relation to combatant casualties was lower.

* Israel uses phosphorous shells in flares and smoke shells. Such shells are standard equipment in all NATO militaries as well as the Arab states’ armed forces. They are of course dangerous to handle when burning but absolutely legal. The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that there was no evidence that these shells were used in Gaza in any irregular way.

* Once armed conflict develops, international law does not require proportionality of response. A state defending itself may indeed strive to cause disproportionate damage to its enemy’s military targets and military capabilities. Let the attacking state or organization beware.

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland

Former Chairman, National Security Council

• While the outlines of a two-state solution are generally known, the maximum that any government of Israel will be ready to offer the Palestinians and still survive politically is much less than the minimum that any Palestinian leader can accept. The real gap between both sides is much greater than what is perceived, and that gap is growing.

• The level of trust between both sides has changed. There are fewer Israelis who believe that the real intention of the Palestinians is to have only a small Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Furthermore, there is less trust in the Palestinians’ abilities to keep their commitments, even if they undertake the right commitments.

• In Gaza today there is, for all practical purposes, an independent state led by Hamas. It is not part of the Palestinian Authority because that is what the Palestinians decided. If there is an accountable state in Gaza, although it is an enemy state, Israel has a degree of deterrence because there is another party that has something to lose. Current Israeli policy claims that Israel’s goal is to bring about the collapse of the Hamas government in Gaza, but that is not going to happen.

• If we make Gaza double or triple its current size by adding an additional 600 sq. km. of territory from Egyptian Sinai, this could give Gaza the space it needs. Suddenly Gaza would have the space to build a new city of a million people, along with a real seaport and airport, and to create the conditions that would make economic expansion possible.

• At the same time, Israel needs 600 sq. km. in the West Bank because the 1967 line is unacceptable from a security point of view. In return, Israel could give to Egypt 600 sq. km. in the Negev in southern Israel. At the end of the day no one loses land, while multilateral swaps enable us to solve the currently intractable problem of Gaza and solve Israeli needs in the West Bank.

• Egypt can gain significant benefits from this arrangement. The new seaport and airport next to Egypt can become major economic connections between the Gulf and Europe. Furthermore, Egypt could get a land corridor to enable movement from Egypt to the rest of the Middle East without the need to cross Israel.

*Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland chaired Israel’s National Security Council from 2004 to 2006. Prior to that he served as head of the IDF’s Operations Branch and its Planning Directorate. This Jerusalem Issue Brief is based on his presentation at the Institute for Contemporary Affairs in Jerusalem on November 17, 2008.

Via BBC:

A large stockpile of unexploded weapons fired by the Israeli military during its recent offensive in Gaza has disappeared before UN experts were able to dispose of it safely.

UN officials said they were urgently trying to establish where the arms had gone and have called for their return.

Israel has accused Hamas of taking the stockpile, which was under Hamas guard.

Via WashingtonPost:

An Israeli soldier was reported killed close to the border with Gaza Tuesday in what Palestinians said was an attack by militants in breach of cease-fire declarations. Palestinians living near Kissufim crossing said they had seen a small group of gunmen moving toward the border fence. They later heard explosions and gunfire.

The LIBI fund -- the fund for strengthening Israel’s defense -- has a new project.  For that cause, LIBI has produced a video, which can be viewed here, or you may watch it below.

The LIBI fund cares for the education, medical and social needs of the IDF soldiers.

Following Israel responds to Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza, LIBI fund is urgently in need of donations to purchase needed medical supplies.

Any donation will be greatly appreciated.

Please spread the word about LIBI and help support the IDF.

A physician at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital tells an Italian newspaper that the number of dead in Israeli offensive ’stands at no more than 500 or 600, most of them youths recruited to Hamas’ ranks’.  Via YnetNews:

What really is behind the numbers reported on the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip? Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported Thursday that a doctor working in Gaza’s Shifa Hospital claimed that Hamas has intentionally inflated the number of casualties resulting from Israel’s Operation Cast Lead.

“The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter,” according to the newspaper article.

The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life.

Via NewRepublic:

Before the six months of cease-fire (when the fire never ceased), Hamas had rockets that could only hit nearby small towns in Israel. By the end of the six months, they had far more advanced rockets that can hit cities 30 or 40 kilometers away.

Another six months of the same kind of cease-fire, which is what many nations at the UN demanded, and Hamas would have rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv. And this is an organization explicitly committed to the destruction of Israel.

How many civilian casualties are “not disproportionate to” the value of avoiding the rocketing of Tel Aviv?

IDF forces in Gaza document how Hamas had booby trapped a school and a zoo with explosives.

Hamas has used its time as Gaza ruler to build an underground city of tunnels that can be can be accessed from mosques, commanders’ homes and public buildings. The tunnels are planted with explosives and are used to attack Israeli troops at rest points.

Tunnel entrances have been covered by rugs, radiators and even toy boxes.