Ceasefire in Calamitous Gaza
"At 8:00 a.m. local time tomorrow a ceasefire starts and Israel will cease all military operations against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip."
"Israel will honour the ceasefire and will be watching to see if Hamas does too."
"We will be putting first on our agenda preventing Hamas from rearming. Ultimately the Palestinians have a written commitment that Gaza should be demilitarized and it's time the international community held them to that commitment."
Mark Regev, Israeli government spokesman
"It's clear now that the interest of all parties is to have a ceasefire. It's going to be tough negotiations because Israel has demands too. We don't have any guarantees the siege will be removed."
Bassam Salhi, Palestinian delegation member
Hamas has insisted on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, along with an end to an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Strip, and the release of Hamas prisoners held by Israel. Lastly, international assistance in the reconstruction of Gaza. Hamas obviously takes no responsibility for the destruction of Gaza, since this is precisely what their actions in provoking Israel to enter Gaza to destroy tunnels and arms accomplished. In their world, "you break it you own it" doesn't apply.
Israel can have no interest whatever in responding to Hamas's demands, since they amount to suicide for Israel, and celebrated suicide and martyrdom conventions are Hamas's shtick, not Israel's. As though it needs explaining, Israel reiterated with the patience of having to state and restate the obvious with the fond hope it might eventually penetrate the wooden heads of Hamas and its supporters that the blockade is a response to Hamas's penchant to arm itself with weapons for the destruction of Israel.
The great minds that give leadership to Hamas have long made the choice of informing Israel of their intention of destroying its presence in the Middle East, rather than seriously and responsibly administering the affairs of the almost two-million Palestinians suffering under their oppressive reign. Informed and taught repeatedly by a series of onslaughts that Hamas means business, Israel takes protective measures. The blockade is one, answering salvos to Hamas missiles another.
Displaced Palestinians leave a United Nations school in Beit Lahia in
the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes on Tuesday.
Zuma Press/Ezz Al-Zanoun
The joint agreement, ushered in by Egyptian negotiators is for a 72-hour ceasefire. Israel has been winding down its ground presence from Gaza with a continuing pullout, having achieved its urgent aim of destroying the network of tunnels from Gaza into Israel.
"We estimate that between 700 and 900 terrorists were killed in direct contact with Israeli soldiers. That's a number that could rise because there were many terrorists inside the tunnels that were probably killed when the tunnels were blown up", advised Brig.-General Almoz, contradicting the popular announcements from news media citing Hamas, that the deaths in Gaza are mostly comprised of civilians.
A Palestinian website with links to the Hamas internal security service in Gaza announced an unspecified number -- originally stated as 30 in total -- of Palestinians executed for the crime of collaborating with Israel. Accusations without trial or jury. Reminiscent of the 2009 conflict when, with the agreement of a ceasefire, videos were posted of members of Hamas dragging the dead bodies of those whom they accused of being collaborators, behind their speeding vehicles.
Israel must now, as it always does, cope not only with the presence of external enemies dedicated to its destruction, but those among its Palestinian Arab citizens living in East Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel with full rights of citizenship in a country where they are free to elect members of the Knesset to represent their interests, where Arab Israelis sit on the supreme court, and yet, where psychopathic Jew-haters launch their own personal suicide missions to take the lives of Israeli Jews.
Labels: Conflict, Defence, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Security
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, August 06, 2014
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