It's fair to assume that if the Palestinians kidnapped John Prescott or Dick Cheney ,the govts of Britain and the US would unleash a storm of protest followed by a firestorm on anyone who defended the action.

Yet when Israeli Defence Force soldiers arrested the Palestinian deputy prime minister Nasser Shaer last weekend there was barely a whisper.The next day troops surrounded the home of Mahmoud Al Rahami _secretary general of the Palestinian Legislative Council _and detained him in broad daylight.

With these arrests five members of the Hamas led Palestinian cabinet and some 25 Hamas MPs are now in Israeli custody.

Even before the Lebanese war ,Israel was carrying out musrder.In July it the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in Gaza and 36 of those were children.
The number of Palestinian fatalities in July was the highest ofany month since april 2002
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Having lost in Lebanon ,Israel is now punishing the Palestinians even further .
hugo