Condi: Action on Iran "With Teeth"

U.S. continues to threaten Iran with war via French Foreign Minister Kochner. On her way to Israel, Rice threatened to use her teeth on Iran.

US demands tough diplomatic action against Iran

Rice called Wednesday for diplomatic action "with teeth" against Iran's nuclear programme.
Amid a diplomatic storm over a "war" warning from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Rice said "We believe that the diplomatic track can work but it has to work both with a set of incentives and a set of teeth."

She was speaking to reporters on a plane taking her on a Middle East tour.

Her first stop, Israel. Israel declares Gaza to be "Enemy Entity" so all water and electic utilities to Palestinians in Gaza will be cut. How that helps promote peace isn't clear. Further bitterness is caused by such actions.

Israel made the provocative decision hours before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived for talks setting up what President Bush hopes will be a pivotal international Mideast peace conference this fall. Rice neither endorsed nor criticized Israel's move.
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The decision is likely to reinforce perceptions among Palestinians and their Arab backers that Israel will do as it sees fit regardless of the cost to civilians, and that the U.S. will not block Israel's hand.
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The "enemy entity" designation could open the way for the most severe retaliatory measure yet. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes and limited ground strikes. It also has sealed Gaza's borders, halting trade in and out of the area, while permitting little more than humanitarian aid into the area.

Hamas militants who hold de facto control in Gaza have not been directly involved in the rocket attacks, but the movement has done little to halt the fire. Israel says it holds the group responsible.

Rice tried to tread carefully at a press conference with her Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Grim-faced, Rice said the United States will not turn its back on civilians in Gaza, and added that Hamas "is a hostile entity to the United States as well."
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Analysis: A decision that will backfire

Depriving Palestinians of water and electricity will not turn them against Hamas. Instead, they will vent their frustration and despair against Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction.

That's why Abbas and his top aides were quick to condemn the decision to designate the Strip a hostile entity, employing the same language used by Hamas leaders: "A declaration of war" and "crime against humanity," they called it.

Condi will stand by and do nothing to help promote peace and extremists in Israel can do what they like to the Palestinians. Nice diplomatic work, Condoleezza. The Israeli and U.S governments will create more "terrorists" and further endanger the lives of every American and every Israeli.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate leader on whom Rice and Israel have pinned reinvigorated hopes for peace, quickly condemned the Israeli move.

"This oppressive decision will only strengthen the choking embargo imposed on 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip, increase their suffering and deepen their tragedy," Abbas' office said in a statement.

And Hamas takes it as a declaration of war.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Wednesday that Israel had effectively declared war by labeling the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip an "enemy entity."

"It is a declaration of war and continues the criminal, terrorist Zionist actions against our people," said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas in the coastal enclave.

And exactly what humanitarian aid is allowed in to Gaza by the Israelis? EU suspends humanitarian aid project in Gaza. It's too violent. So Hamas has an even greater chance of taking over. Good thinking, Israel. Good thinking, Condi. Has nobody in charge any foresight? As could be expected, Iran isn't taking this lightly.

Iran warns it could strike Israel as nuclear tensions mount

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran warned on Wednesday that it could bomb Israel if it was attacked by the Jewish state, as the international war of words over the Islamic republic's nuclear drive escalated further.

The declaration by Iran's deputy air force commander Mohammad Alavi was immediately denounced by the United States, Israel's staunchest ally, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build an atomic bomb.

"We have come up with a plan that in the event of possible foolishness by this regime, Iranian bombers can carry out an attack in retaliation against Israeli soil," Alavi said, quoted by the Fars news agency.

"In addition to our missiles, whose range covers the whole soil of this regime, we can attack them with our fighter jets and respond to any attack -- an unlikely event -- with an air attack on their soil.

"This plan is not an empty threat."

Israel said it was taking "very seriously" the threat. "Unfortunately we hear all too often belicose, extreme and hateful statements out of the Iranian leadership," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP.

The White House denounced it as "almost provocative".

Alavi's comments came after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that the world should brace for war against the Islamic republic over its nuclear activities.

The United States and its ally Israel have never ruled out using military strikes to punish Iran for its defiance in the standoff and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that "all options are on the table."

U.S. Military Nabbed Iranian