Via Israellycool here is what Israel faces explained in a US scale done by one of his readers:
What would you do?
Posts Tagged ‘Israel’
Oklahoma on the line
Posted: January 8, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news, warTags: Israel, reality
According to Sarkozy. It looks like the Israeli’s have accepted the French sponsored peace plan that has been signed off on by Egypt, the US and most significantly the Palestinian Authority.
However one very important party doesn’t accept it; Hamas, per Israellycool and Ynet:
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, said that the Egyptian-French Gaza Strip ceasefire initiative is unacceptable and that new ideas should be discussed
This looks like another crazy like a fox move:
Next, the French and Egyptians appear to have gotten the message about Hamas. The communique appears to go out of its way to exclude Hamas, and the truce principles agreement comes from Hamas’ political opponents/enemies in Fatah. They may want to smooth the path to restore the authority of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in Gaza after three years of Hamas rule, at a time when Gazans may finally welcome the change.
Unless the Israelis want to reoccupy Gaza, they need some sort of political resolution to the conflict. Their biggest worry is the Iranian proxy Hamas. If they can get Hamas out of Gaza and the West Bank, that will be a huge victory for Israel and for the Palestinians in the long run. It will be an even bigger defeat for Iran, which is why the French and Egyptians want to make these arrangements.
Knocking Iran out of Gaza however wouldn’t solve everything as yourish.com and soccerdad reminds us:
Fatah is moderate relative to Hamas. It wasn’t Hamas that rejected the peace deal at Camp David in 2000. Abbas didn’t object to Arafat’s rejection either. A few months of dong what they should have been doing for 15 years, doesn’t mean that they’ve changed.
One might say that Fatah’s primary goal is theft and secondary goal is the destruction of Israel, Hamas has it the other way around. People forget that one of the reasons why Hamas managed to win that election was the massive corruption of the PA under Fatah. There is no reason to believe that would change if they took over in Gaza but it would be at least a relative improvement and depending on if Fatah has learned anything a significant improvement.
For the US the focus off of Gaza and back on Iran would be very good. The president elect wouldn’t mind having this stop before the 20th either.
Accepting this gives Israel a huge propaganda advantage. As long as Hamas doesn’t accept the plan they can smash them up Phil Sheridan style (well maybe not Sheridan style) citing Hamas’ failure to go along. If Hamas does eventually agree it can’t be seen as anything but a defeat that will discredit them with other Arabs.
Why this isn’t touted on the IDF Spokesperson’s blog is beyond me.
About as redundant as you can get
Posted: January 7, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/newsTags: Israel, prayer request, war on God, War on Terror
Christopher Hitchens is worth reading today.
This is a sentience that can be written any day of any week of any year. I can’t help but like him, when he is right he is right on and when he is wrong he is wrong honest. He is one of the best writers out there.
Although he would resent it I can’t help but pray for him.
Shades of the Lusitania
Posted: January 7, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news, warTags: double standards, history, Israel
Isreallycool links to this message at the “Free Gaza” (quotes are mine) site:
Israel is hereby put on notice that we are coming. We will announce our exact departure date, time and route, traveling from Cypriot waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza territorial waters, never nearing Israeli waters. The Israeli Navy, Ministry of Defense, and Foreign Ministry will all receive a copy of this notice. Any attack on our vessel will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the 30 civilians on board will be the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.
I can only think of this notice:
I took the liberty of doing a search for the word “rockets” on their site, other than describing them as “modest homemade rockets”. I’m curious if they would consider them modest and homemade if they were fired at them. Of course there is no condemnation of those attacks, illustrating the moral bankruptcy of these guys.
In my opinion Israel should seize the vessel, and repatriate the people on board to either their starting location or to their individual countries of origin. These guys are very lucky that Israel is not the bunch of barbarians that these guys claim. If they actually thought they were, they’d stay home.
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