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Nearly Half of Israelis Support Full-Scale Attack on Palestinians
JERUSALEM, July 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Nearly half the Israeli people support a large-scale attack against the Palestinians - far more than the number favoring a policy of self-restraint, according to a poll published Friday in the Maariv Israeli daily.
The Gallup poll showed 46% in favor of an "all-out attack on the Palestinian Authority, its leaders and its infrastructure," while 30% preferred the policy of restraint. The other 24% had no response.
Since declaring a unilateral ceasefire in May, right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has targeted and killed several Palestinian movement leaders. Sharon is supported by Jewish settler leaders, who on Thursday called on him to cancel the "imaginary and bloody" ceasefire, news agencies reported.
Responding to another poll question, 80% opposed "terror attacks against Palestinians," while 15% were in favor.
Last week, Jewish militants related to the extremist anti-Arab Kach movement opened fire on a Palestinian family's car on their way back from a wedding, killing three, including a three-month-old baby boy, and injuring four.
In nearly 10 months of Israeli aggression, over 600 hundred have been killed, mostly Palestinians, according to Western figures.
Despite persistent Palestinian calls for international observers to monitor the ceasefire negotiated by former CIA director George Tenet, Israeli officials have insisted they would only agree to an expanded CIA role, rather than a full-fledged international observer force.
The poll also showed that 54% were in favor of CIA supervision of a truce, while 39% were opposed. The poll questioned 600 Israeli adults and quoted a 4.5% margin of error.
On another note, Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau called the Israeli aggression on Palestinians a defensive war mandated by God, and any measures the government adopts against the Palestinians are justified under the precept, "He who comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first."
He added that only the government, not civilians, may take action against Palestinians, ABC News reported.
According to a statement issued Thursday by Lau, Israel's much-criticized practice of targeting Palestinian resistance fighters for death has the full backing of Jewish religious law.
The policy has been condemned by the U.S. State Department and human rights groups.
The most recent case was Wednesday, when Israeli forces killed Hamas activist Saleh Darwazeh by firing five anti-tank missiles at his car near Nablus in the West Bank.
Lau has been lecturing around the Israel in recent days, explaining the religious justification for aggressive actions taken by Israel's government, according to the statement.
Since May, Israel has been following a policy it calls "restraint", avoiding large-scale military operations and air strikes against Palestinian targets, but carrying out smaller operations, like the targeted killing of Palestinians.
More than 40 people have been killed in such Israeli attacks.
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