After Rejecting a Cease-Fire, Hamas Proposes a New One

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NY Times

By ISABEL KERSHNER and BEN HUBBARD

JERUSALEM —

Israel and Hamas went back and forth on Sunday over proposals for a humanitarian lull in the fighting in Gaza, underscoring the external and internal pressures on both sides.

By afternoon, Hamas, the militant group that dominates Gaza, had called for a new 24-hour lull, hours after Israel declared an earlier one over in response to a barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza into its territory.

The Israeli military said in a statement shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday that it was resuming its aerial, naval and ground activity in the Gaza Strip “following Hamas’s incessant rocket fire throughout the humanitarian window” that had been meant to last from midnight Saturday through midnight Sunday.

Israel at first accepted that lull requested by the United Nations, but Hamas rejected it on the grounds that it did not involve a withdrawal of troops from the Palestinian coastal territory. Hamas then fired barrages of rockets into Israel. .

FULL story at link.



Israeli soldiers leaving Gaza near the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday. Credit Uriel Sinai for The New York Times


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip.html?_r=0

[Rhinodawg]

1. They rejected now 5 ceasefire proposals.

Facts:

They have hidden missiles in hospitals and schools.

They have told their people to ignore warnings from the Idf.

They fire missiles during a ceasefire.

They have now fired 2400 missiles at innocent Israeli civilians.

How many war crimes are are these " militants " allowed?

[dharmamarx]

5. Hamas is largely Israel's creation....

Israel supported the spread of Hamas because Israel thought Hamas would eat away at support for the PLO which was a secular left-wing group. See the Wall Street Journal on this here and Democracy Now on it here. The Israeli state has never been interested in "peace" with the Palestinians: Israel simply wants the Palestinian land but without the Palestinian people living on that land. Today, Israel uses the existence of Hamas as an excuse for not following through on its obligations under the peace process, and denouncing Hamas simply helps the Israeli government shift attention away from its own role in creating and maintaining the Palestinian conflict. Israel's worst fear is that the Palestinian people would begin peacefully demanding their rights to full Israeli citizenship. At any point in the last 65 years, Israel could have solved the Palestinian problem entirely on its own either by granting all the Palestinians full Israeli citizenship or by recognizing a Palestinian state on its 1967 borders. The Palestinian conflict persists because Israel prefers it to peace.

[Hugabear]

23. ^^^^ This

Well stated, and welcome to DU

[leftynyc]

24. Not sure why your post matters

The FACT is they were elected by the Gazans as their leaders. This was followed up with using every dime sent to make Palestinian lives better to buy weapons and build tunnels. Not to mention that there also have been no elections since 2006. Using your logic, ISIS wouldn't exist if the US didn't arm the mujahadeen in the 1980s. When will the Gazans take responsibility for the people they elected?

[stranger81]

27. ISIS might not have existed if we hadn't armed the mujahadeen in the 1980's.

The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend.

Actions have consequences, some of them very far reaching. I would not be shocked if information is disclosed eventually showing the U.S. government actively recruited/armed/worked with key figures in ISIS before its current incarnation, just as we've learned vis-a-vis Bin Laden.

[leftynyc]

28. I guess if you insist on looking backwards

nothing could ever really get accomplished. I'm wondering why it seems the countries in the middle east seem to be able to only handle two things - an authoritarian dictator or religious fanatics. Why is that? I had so much hope with the Arab Spring and instead it has brought us ISIS. You can't tell me that's what the majority of the citizens want and yet they have no stop it. There is no way the women in those countries want the religious fanatics in charge.

[freedom fighter jh]

7. None.

But that doesn't mean it's OK for Israel to commit war crimes.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. They want an end to the blockade, not a return to the status quo ante.

You know, that whole open air concentration camp thing.

[cpwm17]

6. The Palestinians need to accept their fate and obey their ghetto masters n/t

The brown people need to know their place.



Do I need this?

[hack89]

9. If a mechanism can be found to keep weapons out of Gaza

Then I am sure the blockade can be relaxed. But Hamas will not stand for that.

[iandhr]

15. Quite simple.

1. Renoue the use of terrorism.

2. Admit Israel has right to exist.

Egypt also enforces the blockade. Why doesn't anyone mention that.

[stranger81]

21. Results on alert:

On Mon Jul 28, 2014, 02:34 AM an alert was sent on the following post:

They want an end to the blockade, not a return to the status quo ante.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=856792

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Accusing Israel of conducting an "open air concentration camp" on Gaza? Yuck. Nazi analogies are NOT welcome in Israel/Palestine debates; see the I/P guidelines at http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134287

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon Jul 28, 2014, 02:45 AM, and the Jury voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Euphemisms can't excuse the facts. And what the poster stated is probably the kindest thing that can be said about the prison that is Gaza. Spurious alert.
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Typical anti-Semitic rhetoric. No surprises here.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Who used the word Nazi ???
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Even Noam Chomsky describes the Oslo Agreement as "autonomy in a concentration camp." I have no patience for the racist and colonialist mentality who want to silence the truth about Israel's crimes against humanity. They may succeed in silencing the mainstream media - 90% of the time. They silence the halls of Congress 99.99% percent of the time - but they don't get to silence the truth here on D.U. while Israel is raining terror on the Palestinians, destabilizing the Middle East and our American politicians are disgracing America on their bended knees kissing Israel's ass.
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Over the top; one can oppose Israeli treatment of Gaza without concentration-camp comparisons.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: It's become the reality, and is thus fair comment.
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

***************************************************

I was Juror No. 1.

[leftynyc]

25. I can't take seriously

anyone who wants to use nazi analogies for anyone other than actual nazis. Long past time for you to be put on ignore.

[Rhinodawg]

26. 2nd 'Jews are nazis' comment in 2 days.

This is really getting old.

And the jurors see no problem.

[bemildred]

3. Israel ends Gaza cease-fire after Hamas shelling

A day-old humanitarian truce that had given residents of the Gaza Strip a respite from nearly three weeks of fighting collapsed early Sunday after Hamas militants refused to extend it and fired a barrage of rockets into Israel. By early afternoon, however, Hamas, had reversed its position and said it would resume the truce for 24 hours, until 2 p.m. Monday local time.

Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, said it acted in response to an appeal by the United Nations and to allow people in the Palestinian territory to celebrate the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which caps the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The immediate effect of Hamas’s reversal on the truce, which came as Israel pounded Gaza City with intense rounds of shelling and missile strikes, was unclear. A spokesman for the Israeli military said its offensive was continuing as it awaited orders from the government.

Sunday’s flare-up of the conflict and shifting positions on the truce came after international efforts over the weekend to achieve a broader cease-fire appeared to have failed.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/israel-ends-gaza-cease-fire-after-hamas-shelling-2014-07-27

[EX500rider]

4. Interesting shot of Israeli troops...

No helmets, no body armor, no knee pads, no harness with gear....I wonder how far in the rear with the gear this shot was taken? Or do Israeli troops often forgo protection for speed?

[Scootaloo]

8. For speed? No. For set-piece photo-ops? Always.

[hack89]

10. Could be special ops troops

They fight light.

[hack89]

12. Their gear may be in the APC. Nt

[riverwalker]

11. the problem with the "human shields"

argument, is what exactly are Hamas being shielded from? Since IDF attacks everything anyway (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, shelters), the whole excuse of "human shields" is bogus.
Tunnel warfare is nothing new. Why not just send in teams and demolish each tunnel specifically, instead of this insane chickenshit shotgun approach?

[hack89]

13. If the tunnel entrances are hidden in homes and well defended

Then a lot of homes are going to be destroyed.

[frylock]

18. and if they aren't?

then a lot of homes are going to be destroyed.

[hack89]

22. But the evidence says they are. nt

[SnakeEyes]

19. dead women/children = good for anti-Israel propaganda

[uppityperson]

14. Is the problem the things that are attached to a cease fire? The terms?

[bemildred]

16. The problem today was bickering about who gets to be "humanitarian" first, or something.

Or about not being seen to back down first.

We have an "open lull" now on the Israeli side, and a humanitarian cease fire on the Hamas side. There are no attachments, just "we won't shoot if you don't" on both sides. Those attachments that are being discussed refer back to the "Egyptian Proposal", though there seems to be disputes about that too. Some of that (the disputes) sounds like dissembling bullshit, but it's hard to tell yet which parts.

[oberliner]

17. Neither side will accept what the other side wants

I don't see any potential areas of compromise.

[alp227]

20. Title has been revised.

Israel Says Its Forces Did Not Kill Palestinians Sheltering at U.N. School

First 3 paragraphs now:

Israel and Hamas went back and forth on Sunday over proposals for a new cease-fire in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, and Israel sought to bolster its claim that its forces were not responsible for the deaths of 16 Palestinians reportedly killed in an attack on a United Nations school.

Palestinians who brought their dead and wounded relatives to a Gaza hospital after the attack on Thursday said that hundreds of people who sought shelter in the school had gathered in its courtyard, believing that buses were on the way to take them somewhere safer. Then a number of munitions fired by Israeli forces hit the school, they said, killing and wounding scores of people.

The United Nations also reported the attack but said it could not confirm the source.