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Palestinian Leadership Slams Powell Remarks On Israeli Incursions
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| Powell defends Israeli incursions dubbing them "defensive"
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GAZA CITY, Jan. 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Palestinian leadership condemned Saturday remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in which he described the latest Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip as "defensive actions."
"The Palestinian leadership rejects any justification of the destruction of refugee housing in (the southern Gaza Strip town of) Rafah ... and the demolition of the landing strip at the airport nearby," a spokesman said.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell defended Israel's operations, calling them a "defensive action" to counter weapons smuggling.
"It's a response the Israelis have taken in response to this latest provocation," Powell said.
"The Israelis are responding to this incident of smuggling of weapons into the region by going after other ways of smuggling weapons into the region," Powell said.
"So a lot of their military activity of the last 24 hours has been to destroy routes of bringing weapons in from the southern part of the Gaza Strip," he said. "It's a defensive action on their part."
Early on Friday, Israeli occupation forces bulldozed the runway at the Palestinian-controlled Gaza International Airport, and the occupation troops closed off a main road in the Strip between Rafah and Khan Yunis.
"They [the Israelis] are now actively trying to cut through the lines and the tunnels and other things through the southern part of the Gaza Strip and it's the same kind of problem we have with the ship," Powell told reporters.
"If there are people who are trying to introduce weapons into the region, this is provocative and one would expect the Israelis to respond."
Fayez Zaidan, a Palestinian official in charge of civil aviation, said the bulldozing of the runway was "severe." However, he could not say whether the runway had been completely destroyed, as Palestinian officials were not permitted to enter.
The runway had four gashes across its smooth black asphalt, leaving mounds of brown dirt and concrete scattered, after Israeli tanks and bulldozers Friday tore up Gaza airport.
"Each day they tear away a piece. Gradually, they'll destroy the whole airport," Zaidan said, gazing over at nearby Rafah, which has been a hotbed for deadly battles between the Israeli military and Palestinian gunmen during the 15-month-old Palestinian uprising, or Intifada.
Powell also backed Israel's demand that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat arrest and try those responsible for trying to smuggle weapons aboard the Karine A, a ship captured by Israel in the Red Sea.
"It must be politically conceivable for Mr. Arafat to do this [make the arrests] because the kind of thing we saw on that ship is inconsistent with the Oslo accord," he added. "Israelis are responding to this incident of smuggling... It's a defensive action on their part."
He and an aide later made clear that he was not including the demolition by Israeli tanks and bulldozers of more than 70 civilian homes and left more than 100 people homeless.
Israeli occupation army claimed some of the homes were used as cover by gunmen firing at its troops. But Palestinians trying to dig out their belongings said they believed they were paying the price for Wednesday's raid inside Israel.
The State Department said on Thursday that the demolitions could not contribute to an end to violence.
It is worth noting that since it came into existing, Israel has received military aid from the United States mounting up to 92 billion dollars. An annual sum of 2.5 to 3 billion dollars is given to Israel by the United States including at least 1 billion military aid.
In September, Israel has signed a two billion dollar contract with American firm Lockheed Martin to buy 52 F-16I jets, one of the most advanced fighter-bombers in the world, reported the Jerusalem Post.
The agreement is an amendment to an earlier Israeli order for 50 jets with an option to purchase more the Post reported in September.
The deal was for the same two-seat F-16I configuration as in the previous order, with deliveries expected between 2006 and 2009.
Most of the funding will come from the nearly two billion dollars in annual U.S. military aid, the newspaper said.
The new agreement covers aircraft, logistics support, training and other services.
Lockheed Martin and defense officials were reported saying the new planes will include a number of systems produced by local companies.
"Israel's sixth acquisition of F-16s demonstrates their continued confidence in the F-16I to satisfy their future defense needs," Lockheed Martin president Dain Hancock said.
Israel is believed to have the largest fleet of F-16s outside of the U.S., with the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv reporting in 1995 there were 250 in Israel's aeriel arsenal, said AFP.
Egypt has the second largest F-16 fleet, said the Jerusalem Post.
The F-16I is considered one of the most advanced fighter-bombers in the world and has been equipped with conformal fuel tanks that extend its range.
In August, a U.S. government watchdog announced that it is investigating the sale of U.S.-made arms to Israel amid growing concern over Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian resistance activists and its use of heavy weaponry.
In the past four years, America has provided Israel with about $5.2 billion worth of arms, financed largely by annual grants of military aid by Congress, reported the British daily, The Independent, in August.
Such weapons include F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft and attack helicopters.
According to the Arms Export Control Act such weapons can only be used for "legitimate self-defense", the paper said.
There is growing unease in Washington over what Israel calls "targeted killings" a euphemism for assassination - of more than 60 Palestinians suspected of involvement in resistance activities, the paper said.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) the budgetary investigative arm of Congress is doing an audit of U.S. arms sale to countries in the Middle East over the past 10 years.
Included in the audit will be an examination of export controls attached to each sale.
"Obviously during peace time when weapons are just being used on exercises the monitoring is less hard to do," a U.S. State Department spokesman.
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