The deafening silence around the Hamas proposal for a 10-year truce

[Israeli]

Francesca Albanese
Mondoweiss
July 22, 2014

During its first 14 days, the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip has left a toll of over 500 dead, the vast majority of whom civilians, and many more injured. Thousands of houses were targeted and destroyed together with other essential civilian infrastructures. Over one hundred thousand civilians have been displaced. By the time you will read this article the numbers will have grown higher and, despicably, no real truce seems in sight. When I say real, I mean practicable, agreeable to both sides and sustainable for some time.

The Israeli government, followed suit by Western media and governments, was quick to put the blame on Hamas for that. Hamas – they claim – had an opportunity to accept a truce brokered by Egypt – and refused it. Others have already explained at length why this proposal crafted without any consultations with Hamas, was hard to accept by Hamas.

Much less noticed by the Western media was that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had meanwhile proposed a 10 year truce on the basis of 10 – very reasonable – conditions. While Israel was too busy preparing for the ground invasion, why didn’t anyone in the diplomatic community spend a word about this proposal? The question is all the more poignant as this proposal was in essence in line with what many international experts as well as the United Nations have asked for years now, and included some aspects that Israel had already considered as feasible requests in the past.

The main demands of this proposal revolve around lifting the Israeli siege in Gaza through the opening of its borders with Israel to commerce and people, the establishment of an international seaport and airport under U.N. supervision, the expansion of the permitted fishing zone in the Gaza sea to 10 kilometers, and the revitalization of Gaza industrial zone. None of these demands is new. The United Nations among others have repeatedly demanded the lifting of the siege, which is illegal under international law, as a necessary condition to end the dire humanitarian situation in the Strip. The facilitation of movement of goods and people between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had already been stipulated in the Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) signed between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 2005. Even the construction of a port and the possibility of an airport in Gaza had already been stipulated in the AMA, though the actual implementation never followed. The requested increase of the permitted fishing zone is less than what envisaged in the 1994 Oslo Agreements and it was already part of the 2012 ceasefire understanding. Unhindered fishermen’s access to the sea, without fear of being shot or arrested and having boats and nets confiscated by Israeli patrols is essential to the 3000 Gaza fishermen struggling to survive today by fishing in a limited area which is overfished and heavily polluted. The revitalization of the Gaza industrial zone, which has progressively been dismantled since the 2005 disengagement and by continuous military operations, was already considered a crucial Palestinian interest at the time of the 2005 Disengagement.

continue reading @ http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=65355

[sabbat hunter]

1. link no good

but this one worked

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/deafening-silence-proposal.html

Why only a 10 year truce?

And the blockade is actually perfectly legal under international law.

What about all those tunnels in to israel? Will Hamas allow them all to be destroyed? What is hamas giving up (other than sending rockets in to Israel on a daily basis) for this truce? Seems like they have demands, but are offering nothing in return. I think a good demand on Hamas and IJ would be for them to recognize Israel's right to exist, and to remove from their charters any wording about destroying it, making palestine from the river to the sea.
I doubt Hamas and IJ would agree to those last two things.

[Israeli]

2. link is fine ....

try : http://www.kibush.co.il/index.asp

[sabbat hunter]

4. still no good

but the link I had in my post goes back to the original article from mondoweiss with my comments on it

[Israeli]

5. its good for me sabbat hunter...

maybe America internet is blocking Israeli Left wing sites ???

[sabbat hunter]

6. doubtful

but in either case, I put up an alternate link back to the article on mondoweiss.


Why is hamas not giving anything in this truce. They have demands, but no concessions offered, like recognition of Israel's right to exist or removing from its charter the call for its destruction.

Why is that?

[shaayecanaan]

7. for the same reason that hamas

is not asking likud to remove from its charter:- "the government of Israel flatly denies the existence of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan river"

They are not really interested in symbolic concessions. They are offering Israel the one thing that they really want, which is to stop the rockets for 10 years.

[Jefferson23]

13. Charter for charter, this is over looked consistently. n/t

[azurnoir]

10. Honestly I keep getting "connection taking too long timed out "

[Israeli]

12. Nu seriously ?

I was joking before .

[azurnoir]

20. akkkk I need sleep

[shira]

3. Mondoweiss is popular here these days. In the past month...

...Mondoweiss has posted a puff-piece sympathetic to David Duke and another one sympathetic to Hamas.

Nice peaceniks at Radical Underground.

[shaayecanaan]

8. that is a rank and blatant lie

The post is not a puff piece sympathetic to David duke. The article merely points out that no one cares what duke thinks, apart from those eager to garner a quote from him with which to smear an opponent.

[shira]

9. Bullshit. Mondoweiss interviewed him w/softball questions...

....and in no way called him on the bullshit he was peddling. They treated that asshole with kid gloves. There's nothing in Mondoweiss' whitewashing that contextualizes what a vile PoS David Duke continues being to this very day. Nothing.

Nice progressives at Mondoweiss. Duke would in no way take offense with anything in that article. I'm sure he's proud of it. That puff-piece interview could've been conducted by Stormfront.

I can't say I'm surprised seeing someone defending that ugly shit.

[Violet_Crumble]

16. Yr right. I just read it and it was exactly what you said it was...

Though I guess if even uttering the name David Duke equals being a puff piece, there's a shitload of posts in this group that mention Duke that can now be labelled puff piece posts...

[Israeli]

11. http://www.kibush.co.il/.....

is not Mondoweiss shira .

[King_David]

15. Clearly nt

[sabbat hunter]

19. the article

is from Mondoweiss. Kibush just took the article from there (with proper credit )

[hack89]

14. Lift the blockade with several conditions

Hamas first dismantles its military infrastructure of bunkers and tunnels. Secondly, there must be a robust inspection regime of incoming goods to ensure Hamas does not rearm.

[Jefferson23]

17. Blood lust: 'IDF should go in harder'

IDF does more than any other army to prevent civilian deaths'

INTERVIEW: Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, talks to Ynet about Israel's military and moral superiority over Hamas, and says Israel should hit Gaza harder and faster.

Attila Somfalvi
Published: 07.24.14, 11:52

Israel's military makes more effort than any other army to prevent civilian casualties, but should be more aggressive in Gaza, says Colonel (ret.) Richard Kemp CBE, the former commander of the British armed forces in Afghanistan and fierce international advocate for the IDF.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4548821,00.html

Look at who is giving advice: War crimes: Why is Britain in the dock again?

Once again, accusations of serious human rights abuses hang over British troops . And once again those men, who put their lives at risk for their country, face the prospect of being dragged through the courts.

Yesterday, it was revealed that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is examining claims that our soldiers abused and tortured hundreds of prisoners during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The ICC’s investigation raises the disturbing prospect that Britain could eventually find itself in the dock at The Hague charged with war crimes. If that comes to pass, not just the generals on the ground but the politicians who sent them would find themselves in the same company as some of the world’s most unsavoury warlords and dictators, facing trial for breaching the most fundamental rules of warfare.

It is a prospect that angers and upsets those who issued battle orders and those who did the fighting. Colonel Richard Kemp, the former Commander of British forces in Afghanistan, denounced the move as “politically motivated” and called for David Cameron to publicly support British troops in the face of what he called “baseless” accusations.

“These accusations are not only vindictive,” he says, “they are also intended to undermine the ability of our Armed Forces and our government to defend this country. It is as serious as that.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10830895/War-crimes-Why-is-Britain-in-the-dock-again.html

[Jefferson23]

18. Hamas says Gaza truce talks 'positive'

CAIRO (AFP) -- A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday there had been progress in negotiations to end the Gaza conflict but that the Palestinian militant group needed detailed guarantees that Israel would ease its blockade of the enclave.

Talks to end the 16-day conflict have intensified with US Secretary of State John Kerry shuttling between Jerusalem and Cairo in a bid to forge a truce.

Hamas had earlier rejected an Egyptian proposal that called for a ceasefire first and then negotiations, highlighting that they had not been shown the agreement beforehand. Israel, which had accepted the truce, subsequently expanded its assault in response.

The Hamas official acknowledged that the militants realized that getting Israel to end the eight-year siege in tandem with a ceasefire was unrealistic.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=715787

[Israeli]

21. What Does Hamas Really Want?

Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy on Ending the Crippling Blockade of Gaza :

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/22/what_does_hamas_really_want_israeli

[Israeli]

22. What does Hamas really want?

Read the list of conditions published in the name of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and judge honestly whether there is one unjust demand among them.

By Gideon Levy | Jul. 20, 2014

After we’ve said everything there is to say about Hamas: that it’s fundamentalist; that it’s undemocratic; that it’s cruel; that it does not recognize Israel; that it fires on civilians; that it’s hiding ammunition in schools and hospitals; that it did not act to protect the population of Gaza – after all that has been said, and rightly so, we should stop for a moment and listen to Hamas; we may even be permitted to put ourselves in its shoes, perhaps even to appreciate the daring and resilience of this, our bitter enemy, under harsh conditions.

But Israel prefers to shut its ears to the demands of the other side, even when those demands are right and conform to Israel’s own interests in the long run. Israel prefers to strike Hamas without mercy and with no purpose other than revenge. This time it is particularly clear: Israel says it does not want to topple Hamas – even Israel understands that instead it will have Somalia at its gates – but it is also unwilling to listen to Hamas’ demands. Are they all “animals”? Let’s say that’s true. But they are there to stay, even Israel believes that’s the case, so why not listen?

Last week 10 conditions were published in the name of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, for a 10-year cease-fire. We may doubt whether these were in fact the demands of those organizations, but they can serve as a fair basis for an agreement. There is not one unfounded condition among them.

continue reading @

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.606042

[Fozzledick]

23. What did you expect to hear, laughter?

The idea that Hamas would actually honor any cease fire may be ridiculous, but it's not really funny.