Hamas appears to be re-positioning itself in response to the recently announced Israeli ceasefire. A senior Hamas official has stated that Hamas will shortly declare a cease-fire. Hamas is claiming that it will give Israel one week to withdraw from Gaza.
In Syria Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Mashaal is due to make "an important" announcement on Sunday afternoon which will address Israel's unilateral cease-fire declaration.
The move comes as Hamas militants in Gaza fired rockets into southern Israel on Sunday and continued to resist the unilateral cease-fire announced by Israel. The rocket firing risks restarting the violence that has lasted three weeks. Palestinian sources claim that more than 1,000 people have been killed. More bodies were being pulled from the rubble as the ceasefire took hold. 13 Israelis have died in the violence.
Israeli security sources have indicated that the military operation may not necessarily be over and that the Hamas response would be critical in deciding how things developed.
Israeli aircraft responded to the rockets on Sderot by destroying the rocket squad.
Hamas have said repeatedly that any truce will depend on Israel pulling out of Gaza.
The Israeli comes without a full solution to the problem of arms smuggling into Gaza.
Israel appears to have calculated that it's unilateral ceasefire in the days running up to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday would leave Hamas in a no win position politically.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007 in a violent struggle and this triggered an Israeli blockade. However the longer term violence stems from Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and provocations such as the creation of settlements in occupied territories.
Sunday 18 January 2009
Saturday 10 January 2009
UN Gaza resolution fails to halt violence
Despite the passing by the UN security Council of a carefully drafted resolution calling for a ceasefire the violence in Gaza is continuing with both the Israelis and Hamas rejecting the ceasefire calls and each side seemingly entrenched in their irreconcilable views. Civilians in Gaza will of course pay the heaviest price for this failure to heed the UN resolution but then it seems that neither side really is considering the suffering of the ordinary Palestinians at the moment.
Hamas would appear to be calculating that despite the heavy losses that they have suffered they have more to gain from being seen to continue to resist the Israeli war machine. their calculation. no doubt is that in the longer term the deaths of Palestinian civilians strengthens them politically and will bring them more recruits and more sympathy in the Arab and wider Muslim world. As an organisation they have little interest in an accommodation with the Israeli state and the present conflict is simply a reflection of their view of the necessary state of affairs between Palestinians and Israel.
The Isrealis see little to gain from a ceasfire because they are clearly calculating that any actions to prevent Hamas rebuilding and rearming will be ineffective. They see Hamas as a snake on their doorstep and having got the smnake by the neck they are not about to let it go alive and risk having it turn around and bite them. Isreali's still appear to believe that a military solution is possible in this conflict and that this short term assault on Hamas will bring them longer term gains. They fail to take into account the likelihood that the present actions will simply encourage Palestinian unity to coalesce around a violent reaction to Israel rather than around a peaceful compromise.
We should not be surprised by this however for the Israeli mind set is to see themselves as victims and to fail to see the horror that they are causing for others. The Jewish state has turned in some respects into a mirror of that nemesis of the Jews in the 20th century - fascism. If not in the way they manage their own affairs then at least in terms of the way they treat their neighbours. They show no regard for the rights of their neighbours, they steal their land and they coral them into what are effectively ghettos where they shell and bomb them.
The present action although understandable in some ways also reminds one of the action taken by the Nazis against the Warsaw ghetto.
Hamas would appear to be calculating that despite the heavy losses that they have suffered they have more to gain from being seen to continue to resist the Israeli war machine. their calculation. no doubt is that in the longer term the deaths of Palestinian civilians strengthens them politically and will bring them more recruits and more sympathy in the Arab and wider Muslim world. As an organisation they have little interest in an accommodation with the Israeli state and the present conflict is simply a reflection of their view of the necessary state of affairs between Palestinians and Israel.
The Isrealis see little to gain from a ceasfire because they are clearly calculating that any actions to prevent Hamas rebuilding and rearming will be ineffective. They see Hamas as a snake on their doorstep and having got the smnake by the neck they are not about to let it go alive and risk having it turn around and bite them. Isreali's still appear to believe that a military solution is possible in this conflict and that this short term assault on Hamas will bring them longer term gains. They fail to take into account the likelihood that the present actions will simply encourage Palestinian unity to coalesce around a violent reaction to Israel rather than around a peaceful compromise.
We should not be surprised by this however for the Israeli mind set is to see themselves as victims and to fail to see the horror that they are causing for others. The Jewish state has turned in some respects into a mirror of that nemesis of the Jews in the 20th century - fascism. If not in the way they manage their own affairs then at least in terms of the way they treat their neighbours. They show no regard for the rights of their neighbours, they steal their land and they coral them into what are effectively ghettos where they shell and bomb them.
The present action although understandable in some ways also reminds one of the action taken by the Nazis against the Warsaw ghetto.
Saturday 3 January 2009
Is Obama going for protectionism?
Bloomberg and others are reporting that the Obama camp are considering measures which could be interpreted as protectionist.
“We are reviewing the buy American proposal and we are committed to a plan that will save or create 3 million jobs, including jobs in manufacturing,” said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for Obama’s transition team.
Chris Van Hollen the Maryland Democrat liaises between Congress and Obama’s transition team in an interview on Bloomberg Television said the aim wasn’t to “set up walls”. Van Hollen, clearly sensitive to potential accusations of protectionism added that any package would be aimed at “generating American jobs,” not triggering a “trade war.”
“We are reviewing the buy American proposal and we are committed to a plan that will save or create 3 million jobs, including jobs in manufacturing,” said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for Obama’s transition team.
Chris Van Hollen the Maryland Democrat liaises between Congress and Obama’s transition team in an interview on Bloomberg Television said the aim wasn’t to “set up walls”. Van Hollen, clearly sensitive to potential accusations of protectionism added that any package would be aimed at “generating American jobs,” not triggering a “trade war.”
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