On Tuesday, speaking at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset, Israel’s military intelligence chief, Maj. General Amos Yadlin, said that Ankara’s turn away from secularism and toward more radical Islam had led to a rift between two countries, “They are currently in the midst of a fundamental process of moving further away from the secular Ataturk approach, closer to a radical approach.” And, referring to the mutual references of a “strategic relationship” during Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s visit to Ankara, Yadlin added, “Turkey no longer needs a close relationship with Israel. There are still joint interests, but not the kind of close relationship today as there was in the past.”
Sunday is the anniversary of the symbolic Nov. 15, 1988 declaration of independence by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
On the Hamas side, despite an earlier decision to keep schools funded by Fatah open on independence day, it was declared that schools would be shut.
Hamas also targeted Israel with words that claimed that “Israel was trying to find pretexts to cover up its previous war crimes with a preparation of another war.”
Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced last week that Hamas had launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea. In other words, it meant that Hamas could hit Tel Aviv if this rocket was fired from the northern border of the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said:
These claims are part of the Israeli lies to justify a new aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Such threats are coming under the title of incitement and creating pretexts in order to commit more new crimes against Gaza and cover up the previous crimes that were committed during the last war.
However, another Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said that he could not confirm or deny that the group had test-fired a rocket, “since such news come from the occupation [Israel].”
On Tuesday, Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced that Hamas had launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea- meaning it could hit Tel Aviv. He also told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas has accumulated an arsenal of rockets slightly larger than the arsenal it possessed before last winter’s Operation Cast Lead.
Hamas offered two different responses. First, the allegation was not rejected publicly but Israel was blamed for manipulating the international community. In the beginning, a spokesman for the organization’s military wing, Abu Obeida, said: “The occupation can say whatever it likes, and whatever it says is dubious.” Later, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum stated that the diplomatic crisis triggered by the report “has led the Zionist enemy to make up excuses in an attempt to instigate public opinion against Hamas.”
So, was this really a tactical manoeuvre to mislead the international community and strengthen Israel’s hand in the face of increasing criticisms, or a confession that the offensive in Gaza was a big failure?
1:02 a.m. As we get some downtime, it looks like Israeli action is hovering between a show of force before stopping in place, declaring “victory”, and pressing ahead into the cities. I still think the decision will hinge on what Tel Aviv gets out of its bilateral talks with Egypt tomorrow — an Egyptian commitment to patrol the borders and possibly southern Gaza is enough to satisfy Israel that it has achieved some of its objective, an Egyptian rejection is likely to spur Tel Aviv to a more aggressive display of force.
1 a.m. Talks in Cairo today (unsurprisingly) “inconclusive”.
Israeli navy has fired about 25 shells into Gaza City in last hour. Aerial bombardment continues. Gazan death toll now 890
In a hearing on two court petitions submitted by human rights groups in Israel, the High Court [on Friday] ordered the state to explain the delay in permitting evacuation of wounded persons in Gaza and the reason for barring electricity supply for Gaza’s crumbling infrastructure.
The Government has been given until Tuesday to provide the explanation.
On Tuesday, speaking at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset, Israel’s military intelligence chief, Maj. General Amos Yadlin, said that Ankara’s turn away from secularism and toward more radical Islam had led to a rift between two countries, “They are currently in the midst of a fundamental process of moving further away from the secular Ataturk approach, closer to a radical approach.” And, referring to the mutual references of a “strategic relationship” during Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s visit to Ankara, Yadlin added, “Turkey no longer needs a close relationship with Israel. There are still joint interests, but not the kind of close relationship today as there was in the past.”
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Sunday is the anniversary of the symbolic Nov. 15, 1988 declaration of independence by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
On Tuesday, Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced that 
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