Olmert: “Israeli” lives worth more than Palestinian ones

Source: The Independent, 23-6-2006
Ehud Olmert, the "Israeli" Prime Minister, expressed "deep regret" for army operations that have killed 14 Palestinian civilians in Gaza in just nine days but said the lives of "Israeli" ‘citizens' (settlers) threatened by Qassam attacks were "even more important".
The deaths in three separate missile attacks overshadowed Mr Olmert`s first meeting with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, since taking office, as grieving relatives gathered here to mourn the two latest civilian victims, Fatima Ahmed, a 37-year-old pregnant mother of two small children, and her brother Zakaria, 45.
The siblings were killed by an "Israeli" missile which had been launched in the second bungled attempt to assassinate militants in less than 24 hours. The attack wounded 13 other members of the family, including six children, and partly wrecked the house in which they had all been concluding a celebratory meal in honour of Mr Ahmed, who had been on a week-long visit from Saudi Arabia to see his 83-year-old mother.
A pile of fallen masonry and a gaping hole in the house`s straw roof were still visible yesterday at the house, about 20 metres from the main Salahadin north-south Gaza road at the entry to Khan Yunis.
The "Israeli" Army say that the attack early on Wednesday evening was aimed at a pick-up truck (allegedly) carrying members of militant Palestinian Resistance Committees. Witnesses said a six-inch crater on the other side of the road from the house was from a second missile.
The dead victim`s sister-in-law, Amtiaz Ahmed, 47, described how she had been in the kitchen preparing coffee and tea at the end of the meal when the missile struck. Displaying a dozen shallow cuts on the back and arms of her 15-month-old nephew, Ahmed Sufian Ahmed, which she said were from shrapnel, Mrs Ahmed exclaimed: "Is he a terrorist? Does he have a rocket-propelled grenade? It is the Zionists who are the terrorists."
Three children were killed in an assassination attempt designed to curb Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza on "Israel" on Tuesday.
Mr Olmert said last night in Caesarea: "I am deeply sorry for the residents of Gaza, but the lives, security and well-being of the residents of (settlers in) Sderot [the "Israeli" border town (settlement) which has borne the brunt of Qassam attacks] is even more important. I reject the attacks on the "Israeli" Army and its commanders. No one is more dedicated or more cautious, and will continue to be so in the future."
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, this week called on "Israel" to ensure its responses were "proportionate and do not put civilians at grave risk ". Almost three times as many Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza in the past nine days as "Israeli" settlers in Sderot killed by Qassam rockets in the past five years.
The dead woman`s husband, Nidal Wahba, 39, said the couple`s 18-month-old son Khaled was in hospital after having emergency surgery for injuries to his head. With heavy irony, he added: "He has been shooting rockets at Amir Peretz", the "Israeli" Defence (War) Minister who lives in Sderot.