I know I promised to provide my expert analysis regarding the internal political implications of the Hamas-Israel truce days ago, but since nobody actually reads Kabobfest, I knew I’d face no reprimand for my lack of punctuality.
That said, my promise was subject to the truce actually continuing to be implemented, and while, for the most part the violence has come to a standstill, the crippling siege on Gaza has not been lifted. That was supposed to happen on Sunday, but Israel, displaying a maturity characteristic of enlightened democracies, decided that it would not adhere to its commitments and ease the restrictions on the entry of fuel and basic supplies. The ceasefire has been in effect for six days now, and Israel has still only allowed 20% of the necessary amount of supplies into Gaza, even though that number was supposed to increase to 35% on Sunday. But Israel is the powerful occupier, so it knows it can be anal about these things. Meanwhile, another patient died in Gaza after being denied permission to leave the territory for necessary medical attention-the 185th such death in the last year. Of course, you all know how that number is almost ten times the number of people killed by Palestinian home-made rockets, right? Good.
Now, a spade is a spade and homemade rockets being fired at Israel from Gaza are a violation of the agreement, but Islamic Jihad’s two rockets were fired on Tuesday-that’s two days after Israel had not come good on its commitments towards easing the passage of supplies. And while Islamic Jihad say the rockets were a response to the assassination of two Palestinian students in their dorm at Najah University in Nablus, one of whom was a member of the group, their attack was definitely not the first violation of the truce agreement. Just the one that got the media coverage.
Israel then proceeded to seal Gaza’s crossings on Wednesday, and they are due to stay closed until Saturday. Or so they say. I mean there are the several reported (by the UN) incidents of Israeli forces opening fire on Palestinian farmers, but reading the media coverage, you'd think the definition of the word 'violation' is 'rocket from Gaza'. But that coz, like, obviously abusing Palestinian farmers is necessary to Israel’s security.
Everytime I used to call out the insanity of subjecting Gazans to this inhumane siege, Israel’s fanboys would retort with some shit like, ‘Stop the rockets.’ Let us assume that these excuses do pass the flimsy excuse barometer; the rockets have stopped. Why is there still a siege?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
This Ceasefire Business
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The rockets launched at Israel in violation of the truce were part of a long standing Palestinian tradition of "testing" agreements with Israel.
After all, if Israel said, "it's just a few rockets, no big deal", then why not have a "truce" with a daily barrage of Palestinian rockets maiming, killing and terrorizing Israelis.
This situation further underscores the futility of making agreements with Palestinian terror factions, which are neither unified nor coherent, nor trustworthy.
If Hamas is not in control of its territory to prevent rocket launchings, then it has no business making a deal on behalf of Gaza.
Furthermore, you have not reported that apparently in the past few days there has been a serious split within the Hamas military wing.
Quoting from Stratfor.com:
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the military wing of Hamas, the Izz al Deen al Qassam Brigades, has split into two groups after an attempt to depose its military commander, Ahmed al-Jabari.
The crisis within the Hamas military wing stems from a long-standing disagreement between al-Jabari and Hamas’ political leadership in Gaza. These simmering tensions led to a recent incident in which the police force in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip attempted to arrest members of the movement’s armed wing suspected of criminal activities, which led to a gunbattle between Hamas-controlled security forces and the group’s militia. The report added that rival commanders and their factions operate in many areas in Gaza.
Schisms between various factions in the Islamist movement have intensified since the group won the 2006 elections. But a rift within its militia could have significant implications for Hamas’ integrity, which is already engaged in a power struggle with its secular rival Fatah and has to deal with rival militant Islamist groups. In many ways, internal splits within Hamas’ military wing were bound to happen, given the group’s ideology.
Hamas is torn between being a resistance group and a governing party. Additionally, the siege of Gaza has forced Hamas to negotiate truces with Israel. Whenever a militant group enters the corridors of power and tries to turn its armed wing into a security force, there will always be factions (motivated by ideology, interests or both) that will not be happy with what they see happening around them.
At a time when Fatah does not appear to be in a position to regain control of Gaza, Hamas’ hold over the territory is in the process of eroding. For Israel (already benefiting from the Hamas-Fatah split), schisms within Hamas are only more good news. It means that the Islamist militant threat on Israel’s southern frontier has become far more manageable.
That leaves the Jewish state to focus on Hezbollah on its northern frontier as the only serious non-state actor threat. Here is where the negotiations with the Syrians are extremely important, as they could lead to an agreement in which Damascus will rein in the Lebanese Shiite movement.
Wow, Firouz. That sounds pretty huge. Wish that were actually being covered here.
That said, I'm interested in hearing what Israel's justification was for not adhering to its commitments on easing the passage of supplies, even before the rocket attacks. (Or is Mohammad's assessment of the situation somehow inaccurate?)
Side note: The word 'Egypt' appears nowhere in this post. If Gaza has borders with two states, and either state could choose to open their border to aid Gaza's residents... shouldn't the one of those two actors who doesn't face an existential threat from the rulers of Gaza be more responsible for opening the border and letting supplies in?
"Wish that were actually being covered here."
Why don't the two of you get your own damn website and then you can cover whatever you want?
Eh Joe, the reason that particular report isn't being covered here is because it is a baseless report. There is no split or tension of the sort described by Haaretz within the Qassam Brigades. You just have to go to Gaza to see that.
Again, Egypt is also responsible for closing Rafah, although within the ceasefire agreement Rafah is supposed to open at a later stage. When it gets to that later stage and Egypt hasn't opened the crossing, I'll write about that. As of now, it is Israel that has not adhered to its commitments. And my description of these violations are based on UN reports.
Useful things, those reports.
Hey Joe,
Yeah, this "insider" stuff doesn't really crack the news here until something substantial happens. Here is the link to the original Haaretz article.
A sample quote:
The military arm has suffered a number of splits and internal fights recently, which remind many of the earlier infighting among Fatah militias. According to the sources, Iz al-Din al-Qassam is divided, and there have been several attempts by commanders to kill their rivals to ensure they control an area or the organization's assets. In Khan Yunis, for example, for over a year there have been three local commanders, each of whom considers himself the chief in the region. In addition, senior Iz al-Din commanders have become more and more involved in criminal activities recently, and in particular in smuggling, which they control exclusively.
These are your vaunted national heroes, Mohammad? These thugs?
The logic behind Mohammad's argument is off base.
1) On Sunday, Israel delivered substantially more supplies than at any other point in months, and expected to continue meeting its obligations per the truce agreement with Hamas and Egypt.
2) Islamic Jihad launched rockets at Israel ON A COMPLETELY SEPARATE ISSUE, having nothing to do with the level of supplies Israel was delivering. Islamic Jihad launched the rockets out of revenge for a prior incident.
3) Just yesterday, Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades launched mortars at Israel, even though Hamas has been begging all the groups to stop violating the ceasefire. Al Aksa Martyrs declared they did so in order to force Israel to extend the ceasefire to the West Bank. Palestinian logic for you - start shooting to make peace.
Israel's obligations are not under discussion here. The inability of Hamas to control a dozen different terrorist groups within Gaza is what remains the central issue to any lasting agreement. If Hamas makes a promise and that promise is broken the next day by a group it does not control, that makes the promise worthless in the first place.
The Palestinians are more fractured than ever, which is just fine as far as Israel's geopolitical interests are concerned - the Palestinians have selected these various terror factions to represent them, and such are the consequences of choosing the rule of thugs and terrorists.
Firouz, your arguments would be so compelling had they not been rebutted by the UN in the link I provided. I don't even know why you bother, since I provided the link in the original post.
On Sunday Israel did deliver more fuel than it had allowed in months (20% of Gaza's needs). However, this was substantially less than what it had agreed to deliver. Thats called violating the agreement.
Its funny when an Israeli supporter lectures Palestinians on the downside of electing thugs and terrorists as their representatives.
And again, that Haaretz article is baseless. The commander in Khan Younis is known and undisputed, as is the general commander of the Qassam brigades, as is the fact that no such incidents took place.
Its so easy to verify that stuff by talking to the people in Gaza you know.
Mohammad, since you didn't actually address the points I discussed previously, there is no point in further muddying the waters. Those who will read our comments, and the links provided, will have the information they need to make a decision.
To reiterate, the first rockets were fired at Israel in revenge for a prior action, having nothing to do with fuel deliveries. You support terrorism, we know this already, but even you cannot manufacture an excuse for the violation of the ceasefire, when the group which launch the rockets already gave a reason that contradicts yours.
Palestinian ceasefires mean nothing because no one is in charge. Any idiot with a rocket who didn't get laid that night can cause a return to war. Just today Hamas said that it will not stop other groups from launching rockets at Israel; that it will not act as "Israel's policeman".
Palestinians have never made an agreement they did not later break. Israel has long ago made peace with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and is in the process of making peace with Syria. The only people the Jews can't seem to make peace with are the Palestinians, who "never seem to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".
You can speak of thugs, but it is your people who are living amongst them. Israelis, on the other hand, are enjoying one of the highest standards of living in the world.
"Israelis... are enjoying one of the highest standards of living in the world."
But I thought you were contstantly under threat of exctinction from crazed Arabs? I thought that Palestinian militancy was making life unbearable for the brave outpost of liberal democracy in the seething cesspit of the Arab World...?
Surely you can't even walk into a pizza parlour without risk of emerging on a paramedic's stretcher... or even take a bus?
Unless, of course, that fear is manufactured rubbish to justify more aid, colonisation of water and agriculture resources, control of imports and exports from the Palestinian territories...
Hey, the Brits also enjoyed a high standard of living when they sponged of the resources of India...
Lowfields, you confuse the ever present threat of Palestinians terrorism with the most effective counterterrorism operations in world history.
Websites like StrategyPage.com and GlobalSecurity.org consistently discuss American officers training in counterterrorism doctrine from Israeli officers, prior to deployment to Iraq. Everyone now comes to Israel to learn how they did it, the French, the British, the Russians, the Indians and Chinese... everyone.
If Arafat or the thugs that succeeded him had their way, the Jews of Israel would long have been exterminated.
That Israel not only survived, but thrived, in the absence of oil fields, is a testament to the resilience, strength and ingenuity of its people.
Firouz, your attempts at doublespeak and your use of the most inane of Israeli PR cliches are amazingly pathetic. Especially since the UN link I posted has an actual timeline of the Israeli violations.
The 'Jews' can make peace with Palestinians any day. But the 'Zionists' can't, because they occupy Palestinian land and oppress the Palestinian people. You did not make peace with Egypt until you gave back their land, and you won't make peace with Syria until you give the land you took from them, just like you won't make peace with Lebanon until you give back their land.
Greedy buggers, aren't you?
Mohammad, I understand your first point completely. This is why I addressed it earlier. Get those little fingers clicking "up", "up", "up", until you find and read what I wrote.
As to the other point you made here, yes, maybe Israel should give the West Bank back to Jordan, and Gaza to Egypt. These are their rightful owners, based on what you just said.
If Jews understood Palestinian property law, they would never give an inch back. When was the last time the winner of a clan war over land gave that land back in exchange for peace? It has NEVER happened.
That land has been paid for with Jewish blood. That was the price you extracted, and this is the land we keep. Nice doing business with you.
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