Ever since Hamas was voted into power, they have wanted a comprehensive ceasefire. And this is the one thing that Israel has never agreed to consider, with IDF insisting that it would just give Hamas the opportunity to rearm, and of course insisting they will not open diplomacy with a group that they have defined as terrorists.
A year and a half after the Hamas elections, and a year after the IDF shelling of a Palestinian family on a Gaza beach, they are still no closer to stopping the Qassum rockets.
But the gangs are now in control of Gaza:
Qassam rockets endangering Peace Initiative in Israel
http://www.dailykos.com/...
What does the current Israeli plan look like?
IDF arresting 33 more Hamas political leaders:
Special envoy to the Middle East expresses concern over Hamas leaders’ arrests in West Bank. IDF sources: We have not seen the last of these arrests
snip
“I’m troubled when I see Israeli soldiers arresting Palestinian legislators. I’m troubled that the education minister was arrested,” said Williams.
Arrest Operation
Israel arrests Palestinian minister of education / Ali Waked
Palestinians report IDF forces raid Nablus overnight in arrest operation, taking 33 Hamas leaders into custody, including PA minister of education, mayors of Nablus, Qalqiliya“Of course legislators cannot be immune from the law. But what worries me is that in most cases, as I understand it, there haven’t been any charges…Let alone trials,” added Williams, referring to Israel’s arrest of Hamas lawmakers last year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/...
And missile strikes recently killed a child and women just this week.
2006 looked like this:
IDF kills 28 Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday
Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed 28 Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday. More than half of the fatalities were civilians killed by an errant IDF shell on the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun.
Twenty-one Qassam rockets were fired toward Israel on Wednesday, Army Radio reported, after IDF artillery shells struck a residential area in Beit Hanun in the early hours of the day, killing 19 and wounding dozens of others.
and this:
Why? Does Israel continue assassinations?
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Very little is said about Palestinian civilian casualties in the MSM.
Haartez staff tries to articulate how this situation was created:
Without a doubt, a series of reasons – political, economic, social and others – have brought these troubles down on the Palestinians. However, the direct cause of what is happening now in the Gaza Strip is that the traditional Palestinian leadership (i.e. the top echelon of Fatah) was not prepared to transfer authority to the elected Hamas leadership.
Many helped the Fatah leadership persist in its refusal to share rule with Hamas; this applies to all those who imposed a boycott on the Hamas government and the national unity government, including Israel, most of the Arab regimes and nearly the entire international community. All of them, rightly or not, tried and are still trying to help Fatah while trying to suppress Hamas.
In the meantime, the result is bringing Gaza closer to Somalia.
What does USA do when it doesn’t like Democracy in Middle East?
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Israel and Bush and Company have put Haniyeh in an impossible situation since he was elected. For him to bring the radical gangs under control the Unity government must get support, and without a ceasefire in the West Bank it would be suicidal for him to confront the gangs now shooting the Qussams:
Qassam rockets endangering Peace Initiative in Israel
http://www.dailykos.com/...
One years and a half later and 100s killed, will we finally give the unity government a chance?
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas made a new push Wednesday to restore a cease-fire with Israel that collapsed under a barrage of Hamas rocket fire.
The two leaders met for the first time since Hamas-Fatah fighting broke out two weeks ago and killed more than 50 Palestinians. The two sides reached a truce over the weekend, but tensions remain high because a key dispute over control of the security forces remains unresolved.
snip
A Haniyeh aide, Ahmed Yousef, said a renewed cease-fire with Israel would have to be comprehensive, and include the West Bank in addition to Gaza. The previous truce, brokered in November, applied only to the Gaza-Israel border, and Israel rejected repeated Palestinian demands that it also halt arrest raids in the West Bank.“If it is going to be for Gaza only, then no one will be able to convince the Palestinian resistance factions to commit to that,” Yousef said.
http://www.jpost.com/...
Then Israel will have to confront the Settement issue head-on:
The Cottage Industry of Settlements in the West Bank
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Voices for a change in policy continue:
Are we finally “We are losing our belief in war?” I/P Diary.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Some are questioning Israel long term motives:
Israel doesn’t want peace
An opinion piece from al Haaretz a popular Israeli newspaper:
By Gideon Levy
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Hamas moves:
Minister Ismail Haniyeh will recognize Israel UPDATED. War and Peace in the Palestine? Next move?
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And when even Elie Wiesel questions the Israeli governments actions and motives, it’s time to reassess.
Palestine: Nobel peace laureate Corrigan injured in anti-fence protest
http://www.dailykos.com/...
All kossacks want peace. If there is one thing that unities us all, it’s that. But we differ as to what actions must be taken, and how much pressure should be placed on Israel.
What do you think?