Middle East Inside Line (30 August): Israel-Gaza Tension Rising, Sweden and Israel Still Fighting

Israel Tension with Hamas Rising: The tension between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Gaza has been increasing since Monday. Palestinian militants fired a Qassam rocket into the Western Negev. A 20-year-old Palestinian was shot dead when he approached a security fence separating Israel and the northern Gaza Strip; the Israeli military claimed that gunmen were placing a bomb near the security fence and opened fire. After the Palestinian's death, mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip injured an Israeli soldier; the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility.

On Tuesday, two Israeli jets dropped bombs on smuggling tunnels in the southern town of Rafah. The IDF said that the airstrike, which killed three Palestinian brothers and wounded seven others, was in response to Monday's mortar shell fire at Israel on Monday.

Israel-Sweden Fight Continues:

After recent tension over Palestine and the "stolen organs" controversy, diplomatic storm clouds are still over Stockholm and Tel Aviv. On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit gave a clear yet a provocative statement in Sweden:

East Jerusalem must be included in a freeze of settlement activity before Middle East peace talks can restart....Jerusalem is Arab and it will continue to be so.

Meanwhile, Washington has denied reports that the Obama Administration dropped the demand for the freezing of settlements in East Jerusalem in exchange for the Israeli concession of a 9 to 12-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.