Friday
Jan092009
The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (9 January)
Friday, January 9, 2009 at 15:05
Later Updates: The Israeli Invasion of Gaza (10 January)
Latest Post: Gaza: The Mass Killing in Zeitoun
Gaza: Tasteful Video Game of the Day
Headline Analysis: The United Nations “Cease-fire” Vote
1:35 a.m. We're going to get some downtime. Not a happy end to the day, I fear. The issue of whether a cease-fire will be observed, less than 24 hours after the passage of the UN resolution, is already long-gone. Instead, the overnight question will be how far Israel expands military operations. The United States, not only with its abstention in the UN but with subsequent statements (more on that in the morning), has thrown its weight behind the Israeli course of action. Conversely, with the failure of the resolution to go anywhere, the Arab states --- including the Palestinian Authority --- and the European Union seem to be in disarray.
There may be some developments in Cairo, where talks on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal resume. And one can only hope that there is something positive to report, such as a resumption of UN aid and a true "respite" in the bombing, on the humanitarian front.
Peace to all.
11:10 p.m. Here's one for the Israel Info Guys in Tel Aviv and New York.
You know the "human shields" line that Hamas hides behind civilians, especially women and children, to conduct their nefarious activities? Well, a released Gazan detainee has offered an inconvenient twist --- at least for Israel:
And here's a little footnote: "They used a bulldozer to pile up the bodies of the dead."
10:45 p.m. One to Watch for Tomorrow. After a meeting at the Israeli Defense Ministry, the United Nations has agreed to resume aid shipments into Gaza. The organisation said in a statement, "The U.N. received credible assurances that the security of U.N. personnel, installations and humanitarian operations would be fully respected."
8:30 p.m. Today's meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet meeting lasted four hours. There was no announcement of the Cabinet's decision, if any, on ground operations. Instead an Israel statement said that the Cabinet decided to continue humanitarian activity in Gaza and keep up efforts "to prevent the smuggling of war materiel into the Gaza Strip".
8:25 p.m. Updated Gazan health toll: 789 dead of whom 230 are children, 92 are women. Around 60 of the dead were elderly. Six were paramedics, and two were journalists.
8:20 p.m. Al Jazeera says senior Hamas delegation en route to Cairo for talks. 8:05 p.m. One journalist lightly wounded in Israeli attack on building used by media. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev says Israeli military were targeting the "antenna".
7:50 p.m. Finally, a possible explanation for all the Israeli movement around Beit Lahiya a couple of hours ago. The military arm of Hamas, the Al Qassam Brigades, are claiming that they killed eight Israeli soldiers in an ambush in the area. Israeli Defense Forces would have responded by sending in more ground units to push back and attack the ambushers.
6:35 p.m. Israeli forces have apparently hit Gazan headquarters of Iran's Press TV, though no casualties reported.
6:20 p.m. Quality Journalism in Action. CNN's Jim Clancy: "Will [Hamas] keep a cease-fire? Their brand is militancy and their message is rocketry."
5:50 p.m. Tear gas used on demonstrators in Amman. Al Jazeera cameraman injured.
5:30 p.m. A dark spot on the military developments with no significant updates.
5:10 p.m. How to Define an Effective Media: While Israel launches significant ground operation which may be "Phase 3" of invasion, CNN has taken no notice but is letting Israeli spokesman Mark Regev trot out his talking points for several minutes.
5:05 p.m. Now becoming obvious from Al Jazeera and Gazan witnesses that major Israeli ground operation underway, with movement of tanks underneath "smoke (white phosphorous?) bombs" towards Beit Lahiya and Beit Lahoun
5 p.m. Large explosion reported near tunnels in Rafah although tanks have "pulled back slightly" from Khan Yunis. Reports of "intense fighting" in Jabaliya and explosion over Beit Lahoun. Unconfirmed reports of use of white phosphorous.
3:35 p.m. Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's rejection of the UN cease-fire resolution is unequivocal: "The state of Israel has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens."
3:25 p.m. Gillerman repeats again and again that the civilian casualties are occurring because Hamas has the population "in a hostage situation". Which raises the question: at what point do you stop killing hostages?
3:20 p.m. Classic non-contradiction of the day. Dan Gillerman, Israel's information coordinator, to Al Jazeera: "This is not a public relations exercise."
3:05 p.m. Al Jazeera analysis: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ready to halt operations because Israel has sent sufficient signal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak wants to give diplomacy a chance to work, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to press ahead with military campaign
3 p.m. Israeli bombardment continues, as Gazan death toll reaches 781. More than 30 rockets fired into southern Israel today. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says cease-fire "unworkable" in light of rocket attacks.
Two of the recent strikes hit a petrol station, sending dark smoke for two hours over Gaza City, and a bus station.
2:22 p.m. Photojournalist Samah Habeeb, who we are following on Twitter, spoke 36 hours ago to The Indypendent of New York City. It is a fascinating and terrifying interview:
2:12 p.m. Military analyst Theodore Karasik on Al Jazeera: Israel "definitely" using white phosphorous bombs in Gaza. Inevitable that, in crowded area such as Gaza, civilians will be affected, receiving "third-degree burns".
2:08 p.m. Al Jazeera reports live from demonstrations in West Bank in Bili'n. Israeli troops now chasing the demonstrators deeper into the town.
Demonstrators are wearing striped shirts in reference to the concentration camps of World War II and have also compared today's Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto.
Demonstrations have also taken place after Friday prayers in East Jerusalem.
2:05 p.m. Today's "respite" is a sham. Israel has been attacking without pause --- Al Jazeera's correspondent on Israel-Gaza border reports with smoke billowing behind him --- and Hamas is sending rockets across. No possibility of aid coming in.
1:05 p.m. Israel says it hopes to get 60 trucks with aid into Gaza today. The announcement is pointless, apart from public relations, as the United Nations has said it will not carry out shipments unless it has assurances of security from Israeli attacks.
1 p.m. Israeli raids on more than 50 targets today, while 25 rockets launched into southern Israel.
12:30 p.m. A follow-up to our report on yesterday's mass killing in Zeitoun is now posted.
12:10 p.m. If there's a three-hour respite, it's not a very good one. Two explosions, one live on Al Jazeera, in northern Gaza in last 10 minutes.
12:05 p.m. Why no word today on the talks in Cairo on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal?
12 noon: Israeli bombardment continues. Loud explosions in Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun. Confirmation that six people killed in Beit Lahiya.
Confusion as Israeli military says there will be three-hour respite today but will not confirm the time.
11:35 a.m. Photojournalist Sameh Habeeb, on Twitter from Gaza: "tired from Israeli war.....I can't sleep".
11:25 a.m. Israeli forces have "locked down" the West Bank for 48 hours, with no movement in or out except for emergencies and special cases. Thousands of police officers have been deployed in East Jerusalem in response to Hamas' call for a "day of wrath". Friday is prayer day for Muslims.
11:10 a.m. Al Jazeera: Unofficial Israeli comment about UN Security Council vote is largely negative. One official calls it a "victory" for the "terrorist lobby".
Israeli Security Cabinet now meeting to discuss its next steps. Israeli military commanders reportedly complaining that they are in a "holding position", making them easier targets for Hamas --- three Israeli soldiers were killed on Thursday.
10:55 a.m. Jerusalem Post: "Iran's top leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] banned hardline Iranian volunteers on Thursday from leaving the country to carry out suicide bombings against Israel, but he warned that Iran would not spare any effort to assist Hamas in other ways." The newspaper reports that Khamenei told IRIB television, ""I thank the pious and devoted youth who have asked to go to Gaza ... but it must be noted that our hands are [tied] in this arena."
10:45 a.m. Just One More Tragedy: A new Web-based project, "Alive in Gaza", was due to be launched this week. Its aim was to bring stories of Gazans, as it had done with Iraqis with the earlier project "Alive in Baghdad", to those outside the country.
Yesterday, news came through that the cousin of the project coordinator had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, apparently on a Gaza City market. So Alive in Gaza's first post is "Omar Ali Abumghaiseeb killed in Israeli Airstrike".
10:20 a.m. Palestinian Authority (West Bank) Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki expressed caution, even scepticism, about the United Nations Security Council vote for a cease-fire: "I'm really worried...that Israel will takes it time before it recognises the fact that it has to adhere to the resolution."
At the same time, al-Maliki is guarded in his criticism of the US abstention, framing his surprise in the context of praise for the US contribution "to the formation of the resolution....It has been an integral part...from the beginning."
Morning Update (10 a.m. Israeli/Gaza time): Israeli bombardment continues throughout Gaza. Reports of clashes in neighbourhood just northeast of Gaza City.
Hamas official Ghazi Hamid, speaking in Rafah, Egypt, tells CNN that the organisation's fighters are "still strong": "I want to say that we as Palestinian people want to live in peace, security -- but I think [Israel's] occupation force will not give us the chance."
"Several rockets" have hit southern Israel overnight.
Latest Post: Gaza: The Mass Killing in Zeitoun
Gaza: Tasteful Video Game of the Day
Headline Analysis: The United Nations “Cease-fire” Vote
1:35 a.m. We're going to get some downtime. Not a happy end to the day, I fear. The issue of whether a cease-fire will be observed, less than 24 hours after the passage of the UN resolution, is already long-gone. Instead, the overnight question will be how far Israel expands military operations. The United States, not only with its abstention in the UN but with subsequent statements (more on that in the morning), has thrown its weight behind the Israeli course of action. Conversely, with the failure of the resolution to go anywhere, the Arab states --- including the Palestinian Authority --- and the European Union seem to be in disarray.
There may be some developments in Cairo, where talks on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal resume. And one can only hope that there is something positive to report, such as a resumption of UN aid and a true "respite" in the bombing, on the humanitarian front.
Peace to all.
11:10 p.m. Here's one for the Israel Info Guys in Tel Aviv and New York.
You know the "human shields" line that Hamas hides behind civilians, especially women and children, to conduct their nefarious activities? Well, a released Gazan detainee has offered an inconvenient twist --- at least for Israel:
In the first day (of the ground offensive) special forces stormed Beit Lahiya. Maybe a thousand soldiers landed on rooftops then began arresting people....They used us as human shields in military positions they established inside Gaza Strip before they drove us to a prison in Beersheba. They made us sleep on gravel, or on the sand. They stripped us of our clothes.
And here's a little footnote: "They used a bulldozer to pile up the bodies of the dead."
10:45 p.m. One to Watch for Tomorrow. After a meeting at the Israeli Defense Ministry, the United Nations has agreed to resume aid shipments into Gaza. The organisation said in a statement, "The U.N. received credible assurances that the security of U.N. personnel, installations and humanitarian operations would be fully respected."
8:30 p.m. Today's meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet meeting lasted four hours. There was no announcement of the Cabinet's decision, if any, on ground operations. Instead an Israel statement said that the Cabinet decided to continue humanitarian activity in Gaza and keep up efforts "to prevent the smuggling of war materiel into the Gaza Strip".
8:25 p.m. Updated Gazan health toll: 789 dead of whom 230 are children, 92 are women. Around 60 of the dead were elderly. Six were paramedics, and two were journalists.
8:20 p.m. Al Jazeera says senior Hamas delegation en route to Cairo for talks. 8:05 p.m. One journalist lightly wounded in Israeli attack on building used by media. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev says Israeli military were targeting the "antenna".
7:50 p.m. Finally, a possible explanation for all the Israeli movement around Beit Lahiya a couple of hours ago. The military arm of Hamas, the Al Qassam Brigades, are claiming that they killed eight Israeli soldiers in an ambush in the area. Israeli Defense Forces would have responded by sending in more ground units to push back and attack the ambushers.
6:35 p.m. Israeli forces have apparently hit Gazan headquarters of Iran's Press TV, though no casualties reported.
6:20 p.m. Quality Journalism in Action. CNN's Jim Clancy: "Will [Hamas] keep a cease-fire? Their brand is militancy and their message is rocketry."
5:50 p.m. Tear gas used on demonstrators in Amman. Al Jazeera cameraman injured.
5:30 p.m. A dark spot on the military developments with no significant updates.
5:10 p.m. How to Define an Effective Media: While Israel launches significant ground operation which may be "Phase 3" of invasion, CNN has taken no notice but is letting Israeli spokesman Mark Regev trot out his talking points for several minutes.
5:05 p.m. Now becoming obvious from Al Jazeera and Gazan witnesses that major Israeli ground operation underway, with movement of tanks underneath "smoke (white phosphorous?) bombs" towards Beit Lahiya and Beit Lahoun
5 p.m. Large explosion reported near tunnels in Rafah although tanks have "pulled back slightly" from Khan Yunis. Reports of "intense fighting" in Jabaliya and explosion over Beit Lahoun. Unconfirmed reports of use of white phosphorous.
3:35 p.m. Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's rejection of the UN cease-fire resolution is unequivocal: "The state of Israel has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens."
3:25 p.m. Gillerman repeats again and again that the civilian casualties are occurring because Hamas has the population "in a hostage situation". Which raises the question: at what point do you stop killing hostages?
3:20 p.m. Classic non-contradiction of the day. Dan Gillerman, Israel's information coordinator, to Al Jazeera: "This is not a public relations exercise."
3:05 p.m. Al Jazeera analysis: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ready to halt operations because Israel has sent sufficient signal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak wants to give diplomacy a chance to work, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to press ahead with military campaign
3 p.m. Israeli bombardment continues, as Gazan death toll reaches 781. More than 30 rockets fired into southern Israel today. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says cease-fire "unworkable" in light of rocket attacks.
Two of the recent strikes hit a petrol station, sending dark smoke for two hours over Gaza City, and a bus station.
2:22 p.m. Photojournalist Samah Habeeb, who we are following on Twitter, spoke 36 hours ago to The Indypendent of New York City. It is a fascinating and terrifying interview:
There is no bread. There is no sugar. There is no gas. There is no fuel. There is no electricity and there is no wood. There is no cement. Everything you can imagine, we do not have. And this was a problem that started with the blockade and that has accentuated since the attacks began. It was preplanned. It is not only a matter of a rocket being fired here and there. It is a strategy that Israel has followed.
2:12 p.m. Military analyst Theodore Karasik on Al Jazeera: Israel "definitely" using white phosphorous bombs in Gaza. Inevitable that, in crowded area such as Gaza, civilians will be affected, receiving "third-degree burns".
2:08 p.m. Al Jazeera reports live from demonstrations in West Bank in Bili'n. Israeli troops now chasing the demonstrators deeper into the town.
Demonstrators are wearing striped shirts in reference to the concentration camps of World War II and have also compared today's Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto.
Demonstrations have also taken place after Friday prayers in East Jerusalem.
2:05 p.m. Today's "respite" is a sham. Israel has been attacking without pause --- Al Jazeera's correspondent on Israel-Gaza border reports with smoke billowing behind him --- and Hamas is sending rockets across. No possibility of aid coming in.
1:05 p.m. Israel says it hopes to get 60 trucks with aid into Gaza today. The announcement is pointless, apart from public relations, as the United Nations has said it will not carry out shipments unless it has assurances of security from Israeli attacks.
1 p.m. Israeli raids on more than 50 targets today, while 25 rockets launched into southern Israel.
12:30 p.m. A follow-up to our report on yesterday's mass killing in Zeitoun is now posted.
12:10 p.m. If there's a three-hour respite, it's not a very good one. Two explosions, one live on Al Jazeera, in northern Gaza in last 10 minutes.
12:05 p.m. Why no word today on the talks in Cairo on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal?
12 noon: Israeli bombardment continues. Loud explosions in Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun. Confirmation that six people killed in Beit Lahiya.
Confusion as Israeli military says there will be three-hour respite today but will not confirm the time.
11:35 a.m. Photojournalist Sameh Habeeb, on Twitter from Gaza: "tired from Israeli war.....I can't sleep".
11:25 a.m. Israeli forces have "locked down" the West Bank for 48 hours, with no movement in or out except for emergencies and special cases. Thousands of police officers have been deployed in East Jerusalem in response to Hamas' call for a "day of wrath". Friday is prayer day for Muslims.
11:10 a.m. Al Jazeera: Unofficial Israeli comment about UN Security Council vote is largely negative. One official calls it a "victory" for the "terrorist lobby".
Israeli Security Cabinet now meeting to discuss its next steps. Israeli military commanders reportedly complaining that they are in a "holding position", making them easier targets for Hamas --- three Israeli soldiers were killed on Thursday.
10:55 a.m. Jerusalem Post: "Iran's top leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] banned hardline Iranian volunteers on Thursday from leaving the country to carry out suicide bombings against Israel, but he warned that Iran would not spare any effort to assist Hamas in other ways." The newspaper reports that Khamenei told IRIB television, ""I thank the pious and devoted youth who have asked to go to Gaza ... but it must be noted that our hands are [tied] in this arena."
10:45 a.m. Just One More Tragedy: A new Web-based project, "Alive in Gaza", was due to be launched this week. Its aim was to bring stories of Gazans, as it had done with Iraqis with the earlier project "Alive in Baghdad", to those outside the country.
Yesterday, news came through that the cousin of the project coordinator had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, apparently on a Gaza City market. So Alive in Gaza's first post is "Omar Ali Abumghaiseeb killed in Israeli Airstrike".
10:20 a.m. Palestinian Authority (West Bank) Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki expressed caution, even scepticism, about the United Nations Security Council vote for a cease-fire: "I'm really worried...that Israel will takes it time before it recognises the fact that it has to adhere to the resolution."
At the same time, al-Maliki is guarded in his criticism of the US abstention, framing his surprise in the context of praise for the US contribution "to the formation of the resolution....It has been an integral part...from the beginning."
Morning Update (10 a.m. Israeli/Gaza time): Israeli bombardment continues throughout Gaza. Reports of clashes in neighbourhood just northeast of Gaza City.
Hamas official Ghazi Hamid, speaking in Rafah, Egypt, tells CNN that the organisation's fighters are "still strong": "I want to say that we as Palestinian people want to live in peace, security -- but I think [Israel's] occupation force will not give us the chance."
"Several rockets" have hit southern Israel overnight.
tagged Al Jazeera, Al Qassam Brigades, Alive in Gaza, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya, CNN, Dan Gillerman, Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Ghazi Hamid, Hamas, Israel, Israeli Defense Forces, Jabaliya, Jabalya, Jabilya, Jerusalem Post, Jim Clancy, Mark Regev, Omar Ali Abumghaiseeb, Palestine, Riad al-Maliki, Sameh Habeeb, Theodore Karasik, Tzipi Livni, United Nations, Warsaw Ghetto, West Bank, Zaytun, Zeitoun in Middle East & Iran
Al Jazeera, Al Qassam Brigades, Alive in Gaza, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya, CNN, Dan Gillerman, Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Ghazi Hamid, Hamas, Israel, Israeli Defense Forces, Jabaliya, Jabalya, Jabilya, Jerusalem Post, Jim Clancy, Mark Regev, Omar Ali Abumghaiseeb, Palestine, Riad al-Maliki, Sameh Habeeb, Theodore Karasik, Tzipi Livni, United Nations, Warsaw Ghetto, West Bank, Zaytun, Zeitoun in Middle East & Iran
Reader Comments (15)
Ayatollah Khamenei didn’t ban anyone from fighting. He just said that in this regard our hands are tied. Over the past week tens of thousands of students have volunteered to go and fight.
Any idea how many have actually gone? Presumably, given the Supreme Leader's position, they would have to get to Gaza without Government support.
Scott Lucas, your attitude against Israel is extreme. You keep ignoring the crimes of Hamas against both of the Israeli people and it's own people, and that's bad. It isn't Israel's fault that Gaza picked the wrong leaders...
Why won't you state that Hamas said that it find the UN proposal preposterous because it won't have anymore missiles to shoot on the innocent civilians of Israel? Uh? Why won't you?
Shachar,
There is no question here of ignoring the rockets launched into Israel, if that is what you mean by "ignoring the crimes of Hamas" against Israel. As for "the crimes of Hamas against...its own people", please feel free to detail them here. My primary concern is for those Gazan people, but my perception is that they are suffering far more from Israeli military action than they are from Hamas at the moment.
As for the UN proposal, Hamas' stated condition for a cease-fire is an Israeli cessation of military operations. So if you want a resolution that halts supplies of arms to Hamas, why not meet that condition?
S.
Hamas fires at civilians (and civilians only of course!), I didn't see you criticizing that.
Hamas has killed during it's regime in Gaza many civilians, Hamas is ruling Gaza with a dictatorship, They are not allowed to express themselves against Hamas (who ever says something "inappropriate" isn't with us today, since he get shot in his head).
Why won't we meet this condition? That's hilarious.
In the last 6 months as you probably know, there was a "ceasefire" between Israel and Palestinians, why "ceasefire"? because it took less than a week, until the Palestinians broke it, and continued the fire of rockets towards Israeli communities, and Sderot. the ceasefire has started in 19/06 if I'm not mistaken, and by 27/06 there were already 4 rockets fired to Sderot and 2 mortar bombs in the Negev communities, which were fired during that week, (3 rockets on the 24/06, 1 rocket on 26/06 and 2 mortar bombs on the 27/06). Of course that there were many incidents later, of breaking up the ceasefire (don't tell me that I'm wrong, We were in the shelters, you weren't).
Moreover, everybody says that Hamas needed this ceasefire to smuggle new weapons. In fact, A ceasefire won't give Israel anything, because it won't change the policy of Hamas "Not recognizing the right of existance of Israel", and it will get rearmed, and we will have a bloodier conflict when the ceasefire will end. Israel can't accept this reality, and must stop it. Of course that the unfortunate death of children, but it's another Hamas "policy", as it can be seen in the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
So if they don't want their children dead, I believe that their "human shield" is a contradiction, Don't you think?
Oh Scott Lucas, I have another video for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1M4eH9Kk7I
Shachar,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate your point of view and realise that it is a far different experience being in the shelters in southern Israel than where I am in Britain.
Figures from Israeli Government indicate a total of 11 rockets between July-October 2008, which is a very big decrease from earlier figures --- while no rocket attack should be condoned, surely Israel was more secure during the period of the cease-fire?
Could that increased security have continued? While the Israeli raid of 4 November and the Hamas response escalated violence, please see the article yesterday that Hamas may have been receptive to a renewal of the cease-fire. And as for the "smuggling of new weapons", which side re-armed more effectively after June --- Israel with F-16 fighters and bunker-busting bombs from the US or Hamas with Katyushas?
Well Shacher ..
as i see it Israel can not accept many realities.
*Israel can not accept that the palestinian have the right to choose whome ever they want regardless israel's taste. ( while israel and U.S.A are electing freely war criminals everytime) and this is why they have started thier illegal blockade just after the palistenian elections
and if you don't realize that slowly killing out of hunger is just like fast killing through military actions both of them is a kind of violance which break any ceasfire.
** israel can not accept that the Palestinian have the right to resist against occupation just like any other humans in the world by the way why haven't israel till today give back the territories that have been occupied on 1976 and come back to 1948 lines as the security council and U.N ordered in the 424 decesion!!
why should the palistenians be the only people on the whole world who should be occupied kicked out of thier land or killed with a smile on their face.
The resistance is a human right according to the human rights protocol which is available only for those whom EU and USA choose and when you are a palistenian you don't have even the right to dream about it.
( just like the poor inactive geneva protocols that israel is smashing it everyday in gaza)
*** And finally israel can not accept the historical fact that an occupation has never ever win a war against a public resistance , not through the most brutal militry actions ( ask the americans about vietnam , and the french about 150 year in Algerie)
And not even through buying thousands of treasions .
****Israel can not accept the reality That only for israel to live in peace is to let others live in peace ( and that has never ever israel made weather with occupied or non occupied territories , ask lebanon and QANA massacre which has been done only to prove that our air forces can reach you anywhere and even without any reason (the massacre that was contempt strongly by U.N )
On the children as "human shields" issue and the YouTube video. It is from early 2008 when Hamas tried to rally population to occupy homes that were under threat of Israeli bombardment, not to shield Hamas fighters firing at Israel. To my knowledge, Hamas has not pursued this strategy after March 2008. (I've had this discussion a number of times in last two weeks, as this video seems to be the main evidence for the "human shield" allegation.)
Shachar,
Re your other video: it is from June 2007 when Hamas and Fatah supporters were fighting each other in a mini-civil war in Gaza. It is regrettable that the political situation should come to this: in large part, it is because of the unwillingness to recognise Hamas' legal (and non-violent) victory at the polls in Gaza in 2006.
Is there any chance of persuading Hamas to accept Israel? If not, any attempt for the international community (UN) at post-conflict peacekeeping and peacebuilding will be done in vein. Whether Hamas is in power or not, the status quo is simply untenable.
Sderot has many minority groups who left neigboring Arab lands, where they were persecuted. That was the reason Hamas targeted the city. They hate them.
Is there any chance of Israel accepting Hamas?
Whatever you may think of Hamas's intentions - Israeli propagandists like to harp on about their founding charter that they will accept nothing less than the destruction of the state of Israel etc etc - the question is to some degree mute given the blockade on Gaza, which to me smacks of an attempt to prevent a functioning Hamas government there. Further - if one accepts Hamas leaders at their word - they have stated their willingness to recognise Israel if it ends the occupation and returns to the pre-67 borders.
Looking at it from their point of view, Hamas seems unwilling to recognise Israel precisely because it would imply them giving up claims on palestinian land - which can be seen as tantamount to surrender, i.e. peace on Israels terms. We should also not forget that the palestinian population voted Hamas into office in 2006, so the Israeli's denial of legitimacy toward Hamas is in effect a denial of palestinian self-determination -which doesn't fit the "War on Terror" narrative -unless, of course, you label the entire population terrorist.
As a possible answer to this seemingly intractable situation, I'm reminded of what Churchill once said: "Appeasement from weakness and fear is alike futile and fatal. Appeasement from strength is magnanimous and noble, and might be the surest and perhaps the only path to world peace."
"Further - if one accepts Hamas leaders at their word - they have stated their willingness to recognise Israel if it ends the occupation and returns to the pre-67 borders."
-----
Well, as the British admitted way back in '71: "The Middle East can't live by Resolution 242 alone."
Even if Hamas was to recognize the Zionist apartheid and racist regime, do you think that any freedom loving person in the Middle East would accept such a situation? There will be no peace in the region as long as Zionism exists and there is no reason to believe pro-American and EU despots in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia will forever remain in power to help keep the status quo. Just as apartheid South Africa fell, so too will fall the racist ideology of the 'chosen people' occupying Palestine.
Omg, look what have they done, killing innocent people