Israeli leader of the opposition Binyamin Netanyahu slammed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's proposed Declaration of Principles document today, which see the transfer of most of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu criticized the decision to disengage from the territories paving the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state, despite no assurances that Israel would receive anything in return. He pointed to Israel's retreat from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, which rather than bringing increased security and peace, resulted in the outbreak of the Second Lebanese War last year, and daily Kassam barrages from Hamas-run Gaza. Netanyahu warned that Olmert's plan to disengage from Judea and Samaria would result in Iran gaining a foothold in the region, and could bring about a situation in which Israel faced strategic threats from the north, south and east.

Quote: ""This government just gives and gives," Netanyahu railed, "and receives nothing - and this will place us in dangers much greater than we have known before, as we see in Sderot; the risks in the Galilee continue as well. Our country will end up endangered by rockets from three directions..." "One diplomatic mistake made by government leaders, 1,000 generals cannot fix," Netanyahu said. "Two of our leading politicians [Defense Minister Ehud Barak and PM Olmert] have made terrible mistakes. Barak's hasty retreat from Lebanon brought Katyushas to the Galilee and Olmert's major role in the Disengagement from Gaza brought Kassams to the Negev. We warned in the past about Iran's rockets, and about Hizbullah, and about Hamas, and that Olmert is blind to the dangers, and that we must not let him be in charge of our country - and then just a few months later, our predictions came true when the war in Lebanon broke out."

His comments come just a day after a barrage of Kassam rockets landed near a Sderot kindergarten as pupils returned to school, causing 12 children to suffer shock. Sderot parents had been urged by the Israeli government to send their children to school despite the town coming under continued attack from Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a "present for the start of the new school year". Israeli President Shimon Peres vowed to... ummm... call the situation intolerable, and... to... ummm... plead with the UN to do something about it.

Quote: "In their meeting in Jerusalem, the president told the chancellor, "Israel left Gaza completely. There is not one Israeli citizen in its territory. Today I ask myself why? Why is Hamas shooting? What is its goal? "There is only one answer. Hamas is a religious-fanatic organization that does not want a Palestinian state for its people, but wants to impose the dangerous radical religious hegemony that is taking over the entire Middle East and gives a green light to kill innocent people in its name."

...Hamas is shooting because they know Israel is on the run. They have Gaza thanks to Sharon, they are about to get Judea and Samaria thanks to Olmert and Peres and they believe that within a short time they will witness the complete destruction of the Zionist regime. Perhaps Peres doesn't read the news. If he did, he might remember a little conference the UN had last week, in which they blasted Israel as a racist, apartheid state. The UN has a track record of not intervening to defend Israelis or innocent Palestinians, and they look to be in no danger of breaking that now.

Source Arutz 7, YNet News, Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem