Israel’s victories in Gaza make up for its failures in Lebanon?

The war on Hamas is a war for the sovereignty of Israel. It was launched due to repeated rocket attacks from Gaza following Israel’s disengagement from the coastal strip.

No country in the world would put up with a situation in which its sovereignty is being undermined and its citizens are being threatened. Given its small geographical territory and many enemies, Israel can not put up with this situation.

Therefore, it is up to every decent person who wants Israel to strive for peace and end its occupation and return to its original borders to support its fight for sovereignty.

The war on Hamas has bred a humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed, thousands have been wounded, and over a million have been left homeless and despairing.

There is no denying that Israel should have done much more to prevent the enormity of this crisis from transpiring. But the international community – which openly supports a war against the Taliban that has taken the lives of hundreds of innocent people – can not, and must not, condemn this war.

Over the past two weeks, Israel has behaved obtusely and insensitively. But waging war is not a crime. It is yet another chapter in this tragic saga that must come to an end.

Since launching its attack on Gaza on December 27, Israel has achieved most of its goals: Hamas was served a harsh blow, Israel regained its deterrence capabilities, and there is a tangible chance of brining to a halt the rocket fire on southern Israel.

A right diplomatic move may now put an end to the smuggling of arms from Egypt, as well as undermine the Palestinian extremists. If this is indeed the case, Israel could achieve its desired overall goal: peaceful coexistence with a weakened and deterred Hamas.

Source: By Ari Shavit Haaretz

Filed under: Analysis, Aid, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, Hezbollah, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

Can Israel Survive its Assault on Gaza?

“Can Israel Survive its Assault on Gaza?” – what a provocative headline! But in service of what? The sensationalism in this Time article by Tim McGirk is ultimately meant to advance the overtired we-need-a-two-state-solution mantra. Not that there’s anything wrong with believing in the feasibility or desirability of a two-state solution, as long as one doesn’t lose touch with reality and acknowledges the actual steps needed to achieve this goal.

However, when Time reporters and editors choose to focus on Israel’s “survivability” in covering the Gaza situation, chances are they merely mean to provoke rather than engage in sober and productive analysis:

Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, has promised a “war to the bitter end.” But after 60 years of struggle to defend their existence against foreign threats and enemies within, many Israelis may be wondering “Where does that end lie?” The threat posed by Hamas is only the most immediate of the many interlocking challenges facing Israel, some of which cast dark shadows over the long-term viability of a democratic Jewish state.

Did McGirk actually ask “many Israelis” what they think, or did he simply project his own musings onto the minds of an unspecified multitude? Here’s more of McGirk’s version of reality:

Israelis will have to choose between living with an independent Palestinian state or watching Jews become a minority in their own land.

False dilemma aside, Israelis have already made their choice. The official policy of the Israeli government favors a two-state solution, as does the majority Israeli opinion. Could McGirk be genuinely oblivious of these facts?

Source: By Shmuel Rosner Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Analysis, Aid, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, Hezbollah, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

Israeli troops ‘edge into urban Gaza’

Israeli forces are moving slowly into Gaza’s most densely populated areas, reports say, as they continue air and ground attacks on Hamas militants.

Some reservists are in action on the ground, but the army denied escalating the war to a “third phase” – an all-out push on Gaza City and other towns. Fewer air strikes were carried out overnight – 12 compared with as many as 60 on previous nights.

Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said Hamas’s military machine was taking “serious punishment” and Israel was “advancing towards the end game”.

Reports suggest diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Hamas in Cairo are progressing.

“I am hopeful we can put an agreement together but it’s going to have to be worked on very hard and it’s got to be credible,” Tony Blair told journalists.

There were reports of fierce fighting around Gaza City ahead of the daily three-hour truce to allow aid deliveries to Gaza.

Israeli military spokeswoman Maj Avital Leibovich said troops were continuing their advance into urban areas.

“Since the majority of the Hamas militants are pretty much in hiding in those places, mainly urban places, then we operate in those areas,” she said, quoted by AP news agency.

Reservists are reported to be securing areas gained in the fighting.

Brig Gen Avi Benayahu, Israel’s chief military spokesman, said thousands more – who would comprise a new, expanded phase in the ground operation if it was ordered – were still in training and had not been deployed.

Militants fired at least nine rockets on Monday, one on the town of Ashkelon, striking a house, and one on Kiryat Gat, but none of them caused casualties.

Mr Regev told the BBC Israel’s goals were “very minimalistic” and “purely defensive”.

Source: BBC News

Filed under: MidEast, Aid, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, News, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War, World News

Sudan’s president urged to surrender to war crimes court

A Sudanese opposition leader on Monday called on Sudan’s president to hand himself over to the International Criminal Court, saying he should take responsibility for war crimes in Darfur.

The call from Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi was the first significant show of dissent from inside Sudan’s political system since the chief prosecutor of the global court asked judges to issue an arrest warrant against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in July, accusing him of genocide and other war crimes.

Turabi told reporters Bashir should surrender himself to save Sudan from sanctions and political turmoil that would follow if the president defied the court and carried on ruling as a wanted man.

“There is no judicial justice in this country … As far as we are concerned there is no access to justice except through the international court,” Turabi said in the Khartoum headquarters of his opposition Popular Congress Party.

“It is up to the government to hand him over or for him personally to go for the sake of his country, to protect his country against any further sanctions against the government,” he added.

Turabi, who was once close to Osama bin Laden, has been a central figure in Sudanese politics for decades and has been repeatedly detained and imprisoned.

He was the spiritual mentor behind Bashir’s Islamist government when it took power in a 1989 coup, but the men later fell out.

But Turabi said on Monday Bashir should take personal responsibility for atrocities and war crimes carried out in almost six years of fighting in Sudan’s west.

“Politically we think he is culpable. He is responsible for all the crimes. In politics, whatever happens below a minister, for example, he will have to resign for it and assume responsibility.

“And he should assume responsibility for whatever is happening in Darfur — displacement, the burning of all the villages, systematic rapes.”

International experts say 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been forced from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government in 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglect.

Sudan’s government, which mobilized mostly Arab militias to crush the revolt, denies activists’ accusations that genocide took place during the counter-insurgency.

Source: Reuters

Filed under: Africa, Africa, Arab, Atrocities, Darfur, International Criminal Court, Khartoum, News, Omar Hassan al-Bashi, Rape, Sudan, War Crimes, World News

Hamas agrees that fighting in Gaza must end

Talks are progressing between Egyptian officials and a Hamas delegation dispatched to Cairo on finding an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-owned news agency reported on Sunday.

The agency an unnamed Egyptian official as saying that the Hamas delegation has agreed on the need to stop fighting as soon as possible.

The officials characterized the negotiations between the nation’s powerful intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and a Hamas delegation as positive.

Two of Hamas’ Syria-based leaders and three officials from Gaza participated in the talks.

MENA says the talks will resume Monday for a cease-fire agreement.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday announced a three point cease-fire initiative which Hamas initially rejected, insisting it needed provisions for a lifting of the siege on Gaza.

Both Hamas and Israel have rebuffed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, as Israel’s offensive against the Islamist organization enters its third week.

On Thursday the UN Security Council voted on a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but the United States unexpectedly abstained in the vote, saying talks on a truce were still under way through Egyptian mediation.

An exiled Hamas leader said on Friday the United States appeared to want to give Israel more time to persist with the Gaza offensive.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, said Israel had rejected resolution on the grounds that “sharply rules out continued attacks directed against civilians and does not forbid urgent action against them.”

Source: Haaretz

Filed under: MidEast, Aid, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

What will Hillary say about Gaza

With Hillary Clinton’s confirmation as State Secretary coming soon – very soon – many wonder what she’s going to say about Gaza, a topic that will surely arise.

Hillary appeared quite sympathetic to the cause of Palestinian statehood as first lady (occasionally to controversy) and then vocally embraced all things Israel when she ran for New York Senator. But anyone who thinks that Hillary will unblinkingly hold to her staunch pro-Israel stance at State probably underestimates her capacity for reinvention, not to mention her ability to recognize that she’s no longer answering solely to a New York constituency.

Frankly, this is what we’re going to get from many of the pundits writing about this topic, but I don’t find this analysis very useful. Here’s why: As First Lady, Clinton was sympathetic to Palestinian statehood, but that was before the collapse of Camp David. For those who do not remember, the Clintons are part of the group that’s blaming Arafat for this calamity (Read Bill’s book for the unforggetable conversation he had with Arafat after the fact). True, Hillary became more sympathetic when she became a Senator from the Jewish state of New York – but it’s hard to tell whether this was just a politically motivated shift, or the change experienced by many other observers of Mideast events following Camp David and the Palestinian intifada. One thing I can say for sure: the Israeli establishment is generally confident that Clinton will be a friend – an ph:clinton.jpgd not the kind of friend Carter pretends to be.

And one more thing: This story of the Suha Arafat kiss – that the NYT mentioned for the 10,657 time last week – is really getting kind of old, boring and irrelevant. Clinton already explained “the kiss” so many times, paid the price for it so many times, attacked for it so many times, that it’s really time to move on. As State Secretary she’ll surely provide some new material with which to question her policies and character.

First test: confirmation hearings. What will she say about Gaza? My guess is this: Israel has the right to defend itself, we need to vigorously pursue peace negotiations, we have to use diplomacy and engage and get involved. We have to make life better for Palestinians, and more secure for both Israelis and Palestinians. We have to help the moderates against extremists.

In short: she’ll say everything Condi Rice would have said had she been re-confirmed for the job next week.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: MidEast, Aid, Al Jazeera, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, Hillary Clinton, IAF, IDF, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

The Netzarim-Tel Aviv Express

Today’s war between Israel and Hamas is a remarkable case study in how leaders in democracies learn. In a nutshell, it shows that leaders only learn when we, the people, force them.

As Israel battles Hamas in Gaza, all Israelis – and first and foremost our leaders – are thinking about the war with Hizbullah in the summer of 2006. That war, which was widely recognized as a military failure, forced then-IDF chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and then-defense minister Amir Peretz from office.

The public’s refusal to forgive the IDF’s operational failures in Lebanon also forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to finally resign from office last summer. While it is true that the proximate cause of Olmert’s resignation were the criminal probes being conducted against him, had Olmert not lost the public’s support and trust after the 2006 war, gifted politician that he is, he probably would have weathered the corruption scandals.

With the ghost of Second Lebanon War hanging over them, both Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi know full well that if they fail now, their heads will roll like their predecessors’ did. And with this sure knowledge guiding them, they prepared meticulously for this campaign.

From intelligence, to media relations, from logistics, to command and control, operational readiness, reserve forces mobilization and doctrinal clarity, they have clearly departed from the 2006 model of incompetence and arrogance. For the past two weeks, Barak and Ashkenazi have led the IDF on a course that – while more conservative and slow than most would like – is clearly better considered than the war that Halutz, Peretz and Olmert commanded two and a half years ago. And for this the country should respect them.

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: Analysis, Aid, Al Jazeera, Ehud Barack, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tzipi Livni, War

Iran warns Hamas not to accept Egyptian truce proposal

“The Iranians threatened to stop weapons supplies and funding to the Palestinian factions if they agreed to a cease-fire with Israel. The Iranians want to fight Israel and the US indirectly. They are doing this through Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon.”

The official pointed out that the Iranians were applying “double standards” regarding the current conflict – on the one hand, they encouraged Iranian men to volunteer to fight alongside Hamas; on the other hand, Iran’s spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, told the volunteers that they would not be permitted to join the fight against Israel.

“The Iranians never fired one bullet at Israel,” he said. “But now they are trying to appear as if they are participating in the war against Israel. The leaders of Teheran don’t care about the innocent civilians who are being killed in the Gaza Strip.”

“This conflict serves the interests of the Iranians,” he said. “They are satisfied because the violence in the Gaza Strip has diverted attention from their nuclear ambitions. The Iranians are also hoping to use the Palestinian issue as a ‘powerful card’ in future talks with the Americans.

“History won’t forget to mention that Hamas had inflicted death and destruction on the Palestinians,” he said. “We hope that Hamas has learned the lesson and realizes that it has been fighting a war on behalf of others. We hope the Hamas leaders will realize that they are fighting a destructive war on behalf of the Iranians and Syrians.”

“Hamas and its masters in Damascus and Teheran want to spread chaos in Egypt,” he said. “They want to solve the problem of the Gaza Strip by handing the area over to Egypt. They want to create a homeland for the Palestinians in Sinai.”

“By endorsing the Iranian agenda, Hamas has brought the Iranians to Egypt’s eastern border,” he said. “Hamas has also copied Hizbullah’s policy of entering into pointless adventures.”

Source: Jerusalem Post

Filed under: MidEast, Al Jazeera, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, Hezbollah, IAF, IDF, Iran, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War

Israel is ‘nearing Gaza goals’ – Ehud Olmert

Israel threw reservists into battle in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and at least 31 Palestinians were killed on the 16th day of a devastating offensive Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said was close to achieving its aims.

Referring to last week’s UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire, Mr Olmert said “nobody should be allowed to decide for us if we are allowed to strike”. Both Hamas and Israel have rejected the UN resolution.

In Cairo, Egypt’s state news agency reported progress in talks between Egypt and Hamas, without providing details.

Talks between Hamas and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were described by an unnamed intelligence official as “positive”.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, now Middle East envoy for the Quartet – the US, EU, UN and Russia – is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Monday morning.

Confirmation that reservists have been deployed in Gaza came a day after Israel dropped leaflets and left phone messages warning Gazans to stay away from areas used by Hamas, saying that its operation would soon enter “phase three”.

Late on Sunday, an Israeli army spokesman said: “More and more [reserve soldiers] have been incorporated into the operations. This is not to suggest that there is a big new push.”

The Israeli army meanwhile denied deploying white phosphorus bombs in Gaza, after Palestinian medics said they had treated patients for burns caused by the munition.

Army spokesman Capt Guy Spigelman told the BBC that Israel “categorically denied” using white phosphorus in Gaza, saying other “smoke bombs and flares” were being deployed.

On Sunday militants fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza, two of which struck 42km (26 miles) inside southern Israel at the city of Beersheba, causing damage but no casualties.

Source: Reuters/BBC News

Filed under: MidEast, Aid, Al Jazeera, Ehud Barack, Ehud Olmert, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, IDF, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, Tzipi Livni, War

Obama and the Gaza crisis

US President-elect Barack Obama has signalled clearly that he intends to grapple with the problems of the Middle East from the outset of his presidency.

Richard Haass, head of the Council on Foreign Relations, underlined the point.

“What the Gaza crisis has done is to remind us – as if anyone really needed reminding – that the Middle East is not stable,” he said.

“And it won’t wait for the new administration to decide when it is ready to address it.”

But what can the Obama administration do differently?

‘Other ways’

There has been a good deal of speculation – especially in the British press – about the possibility that the Obama team might take the unprecedented step of seeking direct talks with Hamas.

Everyone I have spoken to here rules this out – certainly unless Hamas renounces violence and meets a variety of other conditions.

But Robert Malley, head of the International Crisis Group’s Middle East programme, said: “This is not an on and off switch, where you either embrace Hamas or necessarily boycott it. There may be other ways.”

He spoke of his hope that the incoming Obama administration would “show some creativity in terms of allowing third parties to talk to Hamas and not trying to stand in their way”.

If, for example, there were to be a Palestinian national unity government encompassing Hamas members, he hoped that an Obama administration would “judge it by its behaviour and what it does on the ground”.

Does it adhere to its ceasefire? Does it allow the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organisation] chairman to negotiate an agreement with Israel? Does it say that it will allow that agreement to be put to a popular referendum and adhere to the results of that referendum?

Source: By Jonathan Marcus BBC News

Filed under: Analysis, Al Jazeera, Barack Obama, Gaza, Gaza strip, Hamas, Hezbollah, IAF, IDF, Israel, Kassam Rockets, Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Qassam Rockets, Terror, Terrorism, The Terror Journal, War