The Egyptian proposal may not be totally dead.
Palestinian sources told Haaretz that despite recent declarations by Hamas officials in opposition to the Egyptian offer, it is possible that in the next few hours Hamas' political leadership will hold direct talks with Egyptian intelligence in an effort to accept the cease-fire proposal. Hamas' 'political chief' Khaled Meshal or his deputy Ismail Haniyeh is expected to release an official statement later Tuesday. The statement depends on how the talks between Hamas' leadership and Egypt progress in the coming hours.The provisions of the proposal is as follows:
- Israel shall cease all hostilities against the Gaza Strip via land, sea, and air, and shall commit to refrain from conducting any ground raids against Gaza and targeting civilians.
- All Palestinian factions in Gaza shall cease all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel via land, sea, air, and underground, and shall commit to refrain from firing all types of rockets, and from attacks on the borders or targeting civilians.
- Crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.
- Other issues, including security issues shall be discussed with the two sides.
- High-level delegations from both the Israeli government and the Palestinian factions shall be hosted in Cairo within 48 hours of the initiation of the initiative’s implementation in order to conclude talks for the consolidation of the ceasefire and resume confidence-building measures between the two sides. Talks shall be held with each of the two sides separately (in accordance with the agreements for the consolidation of de-escalation in Cairo in 2012).
- Both sides shall commit to refrain from taking any actions aimed at undermining the implementation of the agreements; Egypt shall receive guarantees from both sides of their commitment to implementing what has been agreed and shall follow up on its implementation and engage with either side in the case of any action that impinges on its stability.
Hamas wanted all restrictions on goods entering Gaza lifted, but the closest item it received was a tepid, "persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground." Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is no friend of the Muslim Brotherhood-created Hamas so the Egyptian and Israeli interpretation of security situation becoming stable is somewhere between once Hamas renounces terrorism and once Hamas no longer exists.
The Israel acceptance boxes Hamas into the corner. With the Egyptian proposal giving Hamas nothing it demanded, an acceptance means the terrorist group caused almost 200 deaths, many more injured, a depletion of its rocket supply, and large parts of Gaza destroyed, without gaining anything politically nor inflicting horrible casualties on Israelis.
On the other hand if Hamas doesn't eventually say yes and rejects the Egyptian proposal it will find itself totally isolated in the international community and the Arab world. They will be accused of torpedoing the opportunity for calm, and Jerusalem will have the legitimacy to mount a ground offensive into Gaza.
UPDATE: By 3:00pm Jerusalem time (8:00am EDT) Hamas had fired 47 rockets into Israel's civilian communities. Israel announced that they would resume military operations immediately. Note: This does not necessarily mean the truce is dead...it just means Hamas may need more convincing.
Update Too: Ed Morrissey says, "Hamas’ rejection is yet another example of the maximalist, dead-end policies that have led the Palestinians into ruin for the past seven decades." Read his great analysis here at Hot Air.
26 comments:
Islamic cockroaches, worse than the Nazis.
The question is will the media note the acceptance and Hamas still firing or will they ignore it?
This is an example of the successful use of overwhelming military force.
The only 2 factions to reject will be Hamas and Obama...
You gotta hand it to Hamas at least for being complete berserker ___holes. Kinda like a farmer develops a kind of respect for a fox that keeps stealing his chickens night after night that he just can't catch. Even the day the farmer finally puts an end to the marauding thief he has to grudgingly give credit where credit is due.
Israeli arabs could lay down their arms, give up their hateful murderous ways and be fully integrated into Israeli society with all the perks in a single generation. But no they would rather live in chit and launch useless rockets for no good reason other than their hatred of the jews they know are the legitimate heirs and recipients of the promise.
To be an arab and live in Israel is to be born into hell. A hell created solely by arabs for arabs. And now even Egypt is against them.
This is NOT a victory. This is a LOSS for Israel. Victory is Hamas' total and unconditional surrender. This ceasefire is simply a means for Hamas to regroup, restrengthen, and acquire missiles with an even greater firing range with more destructive force. Israel has been through multiple ceasefires with Hamas with the result that it only attacks again. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Hamas be utterly vanquished. Anything less than Hamas' unconditional surrender is a victory for Hamas and a loss for Israel.
Gaza isn't Israel and never was. The West Bank isnt and wasn't either. There are plenty of Arab Israelis (Muslim, Christian, and Druze) who go to work every day, vote in Parliament. One of the Israeli Supreme Court Justices is Arab.
AFAIK, a cease file is _not_ a "peace deal"...
"and shall commit to refrain from conducting any ground raids against Gaza and targeting civilians."
Israel should have never accepted the "and targeting civilians" wording, which tantamount to Israel admitting that it is targeting civilians, which obviously it doesn't.
"On the other hand if Hamas doesn't eventually say yes and rejects the Egyptian proposal it will find itself totally isolated in the international community and the Arab world."
O sancta simplicitas!
Anyone seriously believes that whatever Arabs/Islamists do will have any bearing on how the international community/Arab world/media view the Jewish state?
"The West Bank isnt and wasn't either"
Actually, in the 1920s San Remo, Judea and Samaria was allocated to the Jewish National Home by the League of Nations (and consequently by the United Nations).
That Trans-Jordan illegally occupied Judea and Samaria in 1948 (and renamed it the "West Bank") does not make it, legally, an Arab domain.
"...it just means Hamas may need more convincing."
Said convincing comes in 500 and 2000 pound packages, delivered to the appropriate places inside Gaza by air.
My assumption from looking at the 48-49 border maps was that the Arabs lost lands in the 48 war and that the Jews gained lands. Various policy maps from the 1920's don't seem germane, given the partition of 48, which I assumed started the real estate scoring.
however, I'm just a bystander in the struggle, not an interested party. What do I know? My comments were primarily targeted to the "Israeli Arabs in hell on earth" meme
Who 'owns' and controls land? Those who improve, use and settle it. The jews have an ancient historic claim to the land and I suppose so do the arabs. But as to why does a particular people actually have power over a place it comes down to practicality not politics. The jews never tried to drive the arabs out of Israel in modern times. But the arabs chose to hate jews and refused to be realistic. Arabs create crap holes of death, dictatorial kingships and tribal strife. Jews create wealth, liberal democracies and a good life for those who wish to participate.
Or, to sum up this agreement, we will all take a deep breath while the Islamists rearm themselves and Iran takes another giant step forward toward nuclear weapons, at which point it won't matter what a free country like Israel does.
This will end only when it ends. Israel either wipes them out, root, branch, and field, and peace breaks out, or the Islamists win and Israel is turned into glass. If the latter takes place, these demons from Hell will turn their 10th Century focus to Europe and America.
Boy, that's a hard choice. Let me think about it a while.
Hamas reminds me of the tea party. No compromise dead-enders.
Here is what a 100% victory for Israel would look like:
1. Return all of Judea and Samaria to Israel
2. All of Gaza to Israel
3. All of the West Bank to Israel
4. All of the Golan Heights to Israel
5. Move all the so-called Palestinians to Lebanon, Jordan, Syria or some other Middle Eastern country
Who owns and controls the land is usually the side that won the last conflict. Borders are drawn by the winners. Let Israel decide for itself where to draw the borders required for its own security. The Arabs have repeatedly shown they are committed to the destruction of Israel and the deaths of all jews.
Hamas reminds me of Obama and liberal democrats. No compromise dead-enders.
"On the other hand if Hamas doesn't eventually say yes and rejects the Egyptian proposal it will find itself totally isolated in the international community"
Probably not.
But, but, but ... PEACE PROCESS!!!
looks like obama's efforts to have the muslim brotherhood run egypt and work against the sovereignty of the israeli state has blown up on him like a failed suicide bomber.
yeah, obama's muslim brotherhood push turned out well in egypt, eh?
I think that it's time for Israel to do Fatah a huge favour and push Hamas into the sea, once and for all...and all those of their ilk who would do harm to civilians inside Israel.
No, Gaza is the hereditary home of the Palishtim, ergo, they can keep it...we'll just surround it with Iron Dome batteries and minefields...but the rest is part of Israel, and always has been.
more like a draw that strategically gives Hamas a long term loss...as they accomplished nothing except spread death and destruction inside of Gaza...which the majority of people there really don't want, and causes yet more animosity towards Hamas and Islamic Jihad...
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