World Gone Gaza
Zomblog posits an Intifada gone global as peace demonstrations get violent around the marble. (The following news and views roundup as the Israeli cabinet mulls a unilateral ceasefire will be updated when I get back from taking my son to see “Defiance,” fine Jewish propaganda flick with lots of dead Nazis … UPDATE: Magnificent, inspiring flick. Something wrong with this world if it doesn’t get “Best Picture.” Picked up the book as well. Somewhat confusing ceasefire news below.)
¤ In London, protesters physically attacked police officers with unrestrained abandon and no fear of arrest;
¤ In Copenhagen, Hamas supporters screamed in public that they want to kill all Jews;
¤ In Calgary, neo-Nazis marched alongside leftists and Muslim extremists, in a grand coalition of anti-Semites;
¤ In Los Angeles, a car full of Israel-supporters barely escaped serious harm when an enraged mob tried to attack them;
¤ In Duisberg (Germany), police broke into a private home and tore down a flag displaying a Star of David, to appease stone-throwing protesters;
¤ In Belfast, an Israel-owned mall kiosk was surrounded and menacingly harrassed;
…to name just a few …
Sleepless in Gaza: Reuters, Gazans say enough is enough, they’d just like a good night’s sleep. Interesting divergence of views from the Palo street:
“We do not care how, we want a ceasefire. We want to go back to our homes. Our children need to go back to sleep in their beds,” said Ali Hassan, 34, a father of five who is sheltering in his brother’s house in the centre of Gaza.
“Enough is enough,” he said, explaining how he had moved his family from north Gaza to the centre of the city two weeks ago to escape Israeli bombardments in his neighbourhood.
…
With several relatives killed, and little sign Hamas’s missiles were having a deep impact on Israel, Hassan suggested it was time for Israel to take the initiative and cease fire.
“A unilateral ceasefire from the side of Israel would be a blow to Hamas, a political defeat,” he said.
“Israel could claim they entered the heart of Gaza, destroyed the places, killed Seyyam and can come again any time,” he said, referring to Hamas security chief Saeed Seyyam, who died in an Israeli air strike on Thursday.
Others, though, were not convinced, saying Hamas should instead try to strike an open-ended ceasefire with Israel.
“That way they can claim it is not permanent and can break it once they have the ability to,” said Aziz, a taxi driver.
“Hamas has made a point. Hamas has not been broken, they are continuing to fire rockets when they want and where they want. But they need to think wisely of the gains and the losses.”
Good news for sleep-deprived Palestinians from Ehud Barak: IDF close to achieving its goals in Gaza as Israeli Cabinet mulls unilateral ceasefire. Ha’aretz.
Better news for sleep-deprived Palestinians. Israel declares goals achieved, unilateral ceasefire. BBC. Will be monitoring for what the heck it means, but as noted below, Hamas has not shown any indication it wants to accept Israeli mercy if Hamas doesn’t get to declare a win. To exactly what extent goals have been achieved also remains to be seen. Not to be cute about it, but anything short of Hamas being destroyed … means Hamas continues to exist.
WSJ: Egypt, U.S. and other western powers (there are others?) agree to help stop arms smuggling. PA to run the border crossings maybe even Gaza.
Mr. Olmert said Israel had made no deal with Hamas, but was acting unilaterally after receiving assurances from Egypt, the U.S. and other Western powers that they would assist Israel in preventing arms smuggling into Gaza. Mr. Olmert said Israel forces will maintain their positions inside Gaza for the time being, and said Israel would resume military operations if Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel.
Hamas officials in recent days have said they didn’t intend to honor a cease-fire.
Mr. Olmert said that Israel made the cease-fire decision after achieving its military goals in the 22-day offensive against Hamas. Israeli officials have said they have significantly degraded Hamas’ governing and military infrastructure, but Hamas has continued to send rockets into Israel throughout the three-week war.
“Hamas has been badly beaten,” Mr. Olmert said.
…
Egypt is seeking an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians to reopen border crossings into Gaza under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority. Cairo also wants to broker a rapprochement between Hamas and the Fatah party headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Several Western leaders were expected to descend on Egypt on Sunday to convene a special summit on Gaza negotiations.
The U.S. wants the Palestinian Authority, rather than Hamas, to control Gaza’s border crossings. Washington also believes Mr. Abbas should control the flow of any reconstruction aid into Gaza once hostilities end. “The PA comes back to save the people of Gaza,” said one Western diplomat in Jerusalem. “That’s the narrative.”
Hang on. AP: Egyptian FM sneers at US-Israeli anti-arms smuggling deal, says Egypt isn’t bound. WTF?
The deal signed in Washington on Friday helped pave the way for Israeli leaders to approve an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire Saturday, since an effective system to end arms smuggling in Gaza was a key goal of the three-week-old Israeli offensive in the territory.
But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Saturday that his country would not be bound by the agreement. Egypt’s cooperation will be critical to prevent arms getting into Gaza since most of the smuggling is believed to occur through tunnels underneath the Egyptian border.
The U.S.-Israeli deal outlines a framework under which the U.S. commits detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to be used in monitoring Gaza’s land and sea borders.
The U.S. and Israel can “do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa, but when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt’s ability to protect its borders,” Aboul Gheit told reporters.
Sounds like the train is leaving the station but it’s unclear who’s on board or where its going.
Earlier:
AP: Hamas criticizes anticipated unilateral Israeli ceasefire, won’t stop firing till the hated Zionists exit Gaza.
Reuters: Hamas will fight on until its demands are met. All Israelis out of Gaza now. The only problem is, topping any Hamas list of demands is that all Jews jump in the ocean, and any Hamas ceasefire is agreed to with fingers crossed … OK, crescented, whatever.
AP: Egypt demands a ceasefire ahead of the Israeli Cabinet vote. Africasia: Mubarak, Egypt will secure its own Gaza border, no foreign observers ever. It’s a “redline we will not allow to be crossed.” That’s odd, I thought the Sinai was crawling with foreign observers.
This is precious. South Africa MPs give the Israeli ambassador a tongue-lashing:
MPs on Friday gave the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Dov Segev-Steinberg, a severe tongue-lashing, accusing his government of perpetrating “racist” abuses against the Palestinian people “that make apartheid look like a Sunday school picnic”.
And as the war in Gaza rages for its fourth week, Cosatu has called for the Israeli ambassador to be “kicked out” of South Africa, for the embassy to be “shut down,” for a “total boycott of Israeli goods” and for the “savage rule of Zionism over the Palestinian territories to come to and end”.
Worse than apartheid. That’s odd, coming from ANC members. Double-reverse slap almost makes it sounds like they prefer Afrikaner racism. But who can begrudge one terrorist organization’s solidarity with another? As for “savage rule,” that pretty well describes … Hamas. The ANC has had its hands full with savagery in downtown Johannesburg. May want to hire some Israelis to help run the place.
Meanwhile, towering above the Arab street, separate but related: Arab investors have lost $2.5 trillion in the global credit crunch. They still plan to talk about Gaza at next week’s first ever Arab economic summit, but it sounds like they’ll be distracted. Development projects on hold. Sounds like less disposable income for global jihad. Some people might say this will make the Arab street more desperate, make the Arab street hate the infidels more, make the Arab street want to rise up and self-immolate more. I dunno. I think it will make them want more money and make them pray the infidels sort it out quick. Jihadis might be a dime a dozen, but jihad ain’t cheap. Bit of a luxury item. Nukes, too.
Great feature I haven’t noticed before. BBC’s day-by-day blow-by-blow Gaza timeline. One problem. You guessed it, it’s a big Shlomo-bash:
Tonnes of aid go up in flames after Israeli artillery shells hit a UN compound. The Quds hospital is evacuated because of a fire caused by a tank shell.
Beeb neglects to note that Achmed was firing from the compound. Probably the hospital as well, given the Hamas past practice of conducting military operations in medical facilities. In the school incident, the Beeb has Hamas’ denial but fails to include AP’s (astonishing) independent Palestinian eyewitness accounts of firing from the vicinity of the school.
Sydney Morning Herald op-ed: A just defence.
Topics: Israel, Palestinians
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:15 am on Saturday, January 17, 2009
8 Responses to “World Gone Gaza”
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January 17th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Jules:
O/T: I thought you’d surely be blogging today’s inaugural events! CNN’s commentary events is a veritable Hurlathon! It’s hard to imagine how it could get more nauseating, even though I know Saturday is like a dry run, so to speak, for tomorrow.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Hamas can do no wrong. Israel can do no right. That’s the world’s attitude. And if the Israelis don’t get it after all these years, then there is no hope for them.
January 18th, 2009 at 1:33 am
The Israelis shouldn’t stop, they know that any word from any of their neighbors is a lie to start with and hudna is no policy for peace.
January 18th, 2009 at 1:46 am
Which leads to a question. Culturally, how did the Israelis manage to develop integrity as a nation and their neighbors fail to do the same? Those in the immediate area are all Semitic and should have a comparable cultural history including integrity and ethics.
On the one hand strength and integrity and on the other taqyyia and hudna.
January 18th, 2009 at 2:51 am
I hope amazon pays you a lot. Waiting 3.5 seconds at every click is irritating.
January 18th, 2009 at 7:31 am
More than you. PayPal icon at left. However, maybe I’ll knock a couple of those features off and see if that speeds things up.
January 18th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
[...] Firedoglake offers Breaking: Israel Declares “Ceasefire”, cue Rod Serling. At Crittenden read World Gone Gaza. [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 1:55 am
[...] ever got) but the attacks and outrage is getting much more public than any time I can remember - take a look at some of the recent news items for yourself. I could dig up a ton more - Those that I [...]