This evening in Israel

[Tesseract]

About that ceasefire:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.605363

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip were also surprised to learn of the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, especially Hamas, which still views itself as the sovereign in Gaza.

All the factions knew that talks about a cease-fire were taking place, but they had expected Egyptian intelligence to fully coordinate any serious proposal with them, as had been the case in the past. They did not expect to hear about it from the media – nor did they expect that Egypt would coordinate with Israel but not with them.

[panopticon]

Posted by Tesseract (here)
About that ceasefire:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.605363

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip were also surprised to learn of the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, especially Hamas, which still views itself as the sovereign in Gaza.

All the factions knew that talks about a cease-fire were taking place, but they had expected Egyptian intelligence to fully coordinate any serious proposal with them, as had been the case in the past. They did not expect to hear about it from the media – nor did they expect that Egypt would coordinate with Israel but not with them.

I agree Tesseract. This was exactly what I was saying yesterday. There was no agreement for Hamas to break.

In the Ravid article you linked too he presents a very interesting view of the internal machinations of the Security Cabinet with Bibi leading the charge and everyone else left agreeing. The comment from one Minister that 'a few hours later, we discovered we’d made a cease-fire agreement with ourselves' really illustrates this well. Tack onto that rising star in Bibi's own party (Lukid) Danny Danon (who is even further to the right) got sacked today as deputy defense minister and there's a bit of an internal power play in Lukid involved in all this as well. Bibi's getting to retirement age and Danon is part of the new crop from the political class in Lukid readying to take control (articles on this here and here).

BTW thank you for the link to the Al Qassam Brigades feed as I had been looking for one since their other accounts were suspended. Maybe warn others though that it has graphic images in it of dead children and adults. These images may disturb persons not acquainted with the horror of reality in a battle zone.

Yes, I am sick of Mark Regev. The new head of the "IDF spokesperson" military unit is Brigadier General Moti Almoz (source 1, source 2). Evidently he doesn't like being in the media...

-- Pan

[panopticon]

The text of the ceasefire proposal between Egypt & Israel as reported by Jpost.

###

Owing to Egypt’s historical responsibility, and its belief in the importance of achieving peace in the region, protecting the lives of innocents, and ending the bloodshed -- Egypt calls upon Israel and all of the Palestinian factions to enact an immediate ceasefire, due to the fact that escalation and mutual violence, and the victims that will result, will not be in the interest of either party; as such, during the period of the ceasefire, both sides shall abide by the following:

a. Israel shall cease all hostilities against the Gaza Strip via land, sea, and air, and shall commit to refrain from conducting any ground raids against Gaza and targeting civilians.

b. All Palestinian factions in Gaza shall cease all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel via land, sea, air, and underground, and shall commit to refrain from firing all types of rockets, and from attacks on the borders or targeting civilians.

c. Crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.

d. Other issues, including security issues shall be discussed with the two sides.

Method of implementation of the initiative:

a. It has been decided to initiate implementation of the de-escalation agreements at 9:00 a.m. on July 15th, 2014, pending the implementation of a full ceasefire within twelve hours of the announcement of the Egyptian initiative and its unconditional acceptance by both sides.

b. High-level delegations from both the Israeli government and the Palestinian factions shall be hosted in Cairo within 48 hours of the initiation of the initiative’s implementation, in order to conclude talks for the consolidation of the ceasefire and resume confidence-building measures between the two sides; talks shall be held with each of the two sides separately (in accordance with the agreements for the consolidation of de-escalation in Cairo in 2012).

c. Both sides shall commit to refrain from taking any actions aimed at undermining the implementation of the agreements; Egypt shall receive guarantees from both sides of their commitment to implementing what has been agreed upon, and shall follow up on its implementation and engage with either side in the case of any action that impinges on its stability.

Source

###

The main problem that I've read is reported as being this:

c. Crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.

This is reported as the same sort of language that was in the last ceasefire agreement which led to no changes in border crossings or passage of goods/people because Israel did not define, nor agree, what a stable security situation looks like.

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Jon Stewart on the attack by Israel on Gaza:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=40R3Yb7DTzo

[panopticon]

I get confused sometimes by people. I can understand their motivation most of the time but sometimes I just don't understand why they act on that motivation.

I came across this image in my virtual wanderings and really just don't get what possessed that fella, ironically on the left, to leave the house with that shirt on:


Source

Now it just looks at first glance to be the usual right wing anti-socialist rubbish that I have come to expect however it actually is a logo promoted by neo-Nazi online hate groups (like "Stormfront") and widely used by "pro-white" groups. I will not back link to any of them because I refuse to give them and their ilk traffic from any post I make at Avalon.

Anyway, the "Good Night Left Side" is only used by neo-Nazi's as it is in reaction to the earlier "Good Night White Pride" used by anti-facist groups. The first image below is similar to those credited with inspiring the symbolism in the second (it may well be the image that inspired the popular "Good Night White Pride" slogan).





So, what possesses a young presumably Jewish male to be out and about allegedly disrupting a pro-Gaza rally in Tel-Aviv wearing a pro-Nazi t-shirt? For that matter what possesses him to be out and about in Tel-Aviv at all with that t-shirt on?

For an idea of what he'd have to be listening to if it's "because of the music man":

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jbOUWojNiEg

Might as well be wearing a shirt with this on:



If anyone has more information in relation to the first image used in this post (in particular its location as it is reportedly from Tel-Aviv but I can not confirm it) then I would love to hear about it.

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Interesting article about Tony Blair organising el-Sisi & Bibi Gazan ceasefire phone call.

Most interesting part:

Senior Israeli officials and Western diplomats said the reason the Egyptian cease-fire initiative was so short-lived is that it was prepared hastily and was not coordinated with all the relevant parties, particularly Hamas.

If Hamas wasn't included in negotiations then how can anyone have the gall to call them "negotiations"?



###

Secret call between Netanyahu, al-Sissi led to abortive cease-fire
By Barak Ravid. July 16, 2014


Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, right, discussing the Gaza-Israel conflict with Tony Blair, Quartet rep to the Middle East, on July 12. Photo by Reuters

Haaretz has learned that the PM spoke to the Egyptian president in a phone call prompted by Quartet envoy Tony Blair.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi on Saturday in a telephone call that has been kept secret until now, after Quartet special envoy Tony Blair urged the Egyptian leader to become more actively involved in promoting a cease-fire, diplomatic sources told Haaretz.

Israel agreed to a cease-fire Tuesday morning and briefly halted its air strikes on Gaza. Hamas did not accept the terms of the truce, however, and continued firing rockets. Several hours later, Israel resumed its attacks as well.

The Saturday conversation was the first between Netanyahu and al-Sissi since Israel's Operation Protective Edge began July 8, and only the second since al-Sissi took office in June.

The diplomatic sources said Blair was still in the region Wednesday, continuing to push for a cease-fire. Blair is due to meet with al-Sissi again Wednesday to continue looking into ways to end the fighting.

Diplomatic efforts are also underway to pressure Hamas to agree to the cease-fire proposal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who met with Netanyahu on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, spoke by telephone over the past 24 hours with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, asking them to increase the pressure on Hamas.

Senior Israeli officials and Western diplomats said the reason the Egyptian cease-fire initiative was so short-lived is that it was prepared hastily and was not coordinated with all the relevant parties, particularly Hamas.

Blair held talks with Netanyahu as well as al-Sissi in the early stages of the military campaign, in a bid to move forward with a cease-fire. He met with al-Sissi in Cairo on Saturday after coordinating his efforts with Kerry, the sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The sources said Blair urged al-Sissi to push for an end to hostilities to prevent further harm to civilians in the Gaza Strip.

After the meeting, al-Sissi spoke for the first time about the need to work toward a truce based on the cease-plan from the last flare-up between Israel and Gaza, in November 2012. He said Egypt would hold talks on the subject with Israel and Hamas.

From Cairo, Blair traveled to Israel to meet with Netanyahu early Saturday evening, and told him al-Sissi was willing to engage in serious mediation efforts. Blair also updated Kerry on the situation, the sources said.

Blair discovered Saturday that Netanyahu and al-Sissi had not been in contact, and secured their agreement to speak by phone.

Both countries kept mum about the conversation, refraining from informing the press the two leaders had been in touch. The Prime Minister's Bureau did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the details described by the diplomatic officials.

In his first conversation with al-Sissi last month, Netanyahu congratulated him on winning the Egyptian presidential election. The Prime Minister’s Bureau said at the time that Netanyahu said Israel was committed to its peace treaty with Egypt and saw bilateral ties as being of strategic importance.

Source

[panopticon]

Here is the text to the 2012 ceasefire agreement between Israel & Hamas as negotiated by Egypt.

As I said in my post above the wording is similarly vague and resulted in limited change occurring in cross-border movement of goods/services and persons.

2012

Following is the verbatim English text of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza that was reached on Wednesday through Egyptian mediation. The text was distributed by the office of the Egyptian president.

1. Agreement of Understanding For a Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip

A. Israel should stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals.

B. All Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border.

C. Opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas and procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.

D. Other matters as may be requested shall be addressed.

2. Implementation mechanisms:

A. Setting up the zero hour for the ceasefire understanding to enter into effect.

B. Egypt shall receive assurances from each party that the party commits to what was agreed upon.

C. Each party shall commit itself not to perform any acts that would breach this understanding. In case of any observations Egypt as the sponsor of this understanding shall be informed to follow up.

Source

Now let's compare it to the latest (2014) agreement between Israel & Egypt (that managed to forget that Hamas was involved)...

2014

Owing to Egypt’s historical responsibility, and its belief in the importance of achieving peace in the region, protecting the lives of innocents, and ending the bloodshed -- Egypt calls upon Israel and all of the Palestinian factions to enact an immediate ceasefire, due to the fact that escalation and mutual violence, and the victims that will result, will not be in the interest of either party; as such, during the period of the ceasefire, both sides shall abide by the following:

A. Israel shall cease all hostilities against the Gaza Strip via land, sea, and air, and shall commit to refrain from conducting any ground raids against Gaza and targeting civilians.

B. All Palestinian factions in Gaza shall cease all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel via land, sea, air, and underground, and shall commit to refrain from firing all types of rockets, and from attacks on the borders or targeting civilians.

C. Crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.

D. Other issues, including security issues shall be discussed with the two sides.

Method of implementation of the initiative:

A. It has been decided to initiate implementation of the de-escalation agreements at 9:00 a.m. on July 15th, 2014, pending the implementation of a full ceasefire within twelve hours of the announcement of the Egyptian initiative and its unconditional acceptance by both sides.

B. High-level delegations from both the Israeli government and the Palestinian factions shall be hosted in Cairo within 48 hours of the initiation of the initiative’s implementation, in order to conclude talks for the consolidation of the ceasefire and resume confidence-building measures between the two sides; talks shall be held with each of the two sides separately (in accordance with the agreements for the consolidation of de-escalation in Cairo in 2012).

C. Both sides shall commit to refrain from taking any actions aimed at undermining the implementation of the agreements; Egypt shall receive guarantees from both sides of their commitment to implementing what has been agreed upon, and shall follow up on its implementation and engage with either side in the case of any action that impinges on its stability.

Source

So, doesn't seem to be a great deal of difference between the two ceasefire agreements really. Just Hamas didn't actually agree to the second one, probably because they had more experience dealing with ceasefire agreement negotiations...

Interesting thing I came across in my wanderings was that some of the other factions in Gaza (ie non-Hamas) didn't know about the ceasefire "agreement" until they heard about the Israeli Security Cabinet agreeing to it in the media. This is where it becomes very unclear. Some reports indicate that these groups hurriedly tried to confirm what was going on. Other reports that they simply stopped firing rockets until they started seeing rockets being fired from Gaza. All reports I read indicated that the ceasefire agreement had not been negotiated meaningfully with anyone other than Egypt & Israel.

-- Pan

[MorningFox]

Posted by panopticon (here)
So, what possesses a young presumably Jewish male to be out and about allegedly disrupting a pro-Gaza rally in Tel-Aviv wearing a pro-Nazi t-shirt? For that matter what possesses him to be out and about in Tel-Aviv at all with that t-shirt on?

You're giving him credit for not being utterly thick and ignorant.

[panopticon]

Now a little bit of back ground for those not familiar with the last few months...

The present attack on Gaza comes on the heels of some interesting developments in Palestinian politics. Israel was fairly well ignored when Hamas & Fatah signed a reconcilliation agreement on 23rd April 2014. This agreement was to see a unity government formed and presidential and parliamentary elections held later this year. As a result of this Bibi & co walked away from the peace negotiation table. Next on 2nd June Abbas swore in an interim government (as per the Hamas-Fatah agreement).

"Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged our national case," said President Abbas.

As the new administration took office, the Hamas government in Gaza resigned.

Hamas's outgoing Prime Minister Ismail Haniya welcomed the new cabinet as "a government of one people and one political system".

Three Gaza-based members of the new government were denied permission by Israel to cross into the West Bank for the ceremony.

Israel tightly controls who exits Gaza into its territory as part of what it says are security measures to prevent attacks.

Israel said it would cease all but security co-ordination with the Palestinians if the government was formed.
Source

So, from the 2nd of June there is a united Palestinian Government representing all persons of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (ie. in the West Bank and Gaza Strip). Less than 2 weeks after this historic moment 3 Israeli-Jewish youths are kidnapped by persons unknown. An audio recording of part of their emergency service phone call can be heard online. The number of Palestinians detained over the kidnapping vary between the Israeli figure of 381 and the Palestinian figure of 566. The bodies of the three Israeli-Jewish youths were found just over two weeks after their emergency phone call was initially ignored. The reprisal killing of an Israeli-Arab youth occurred the day after the Israeli-Jewish youths funerals and one month to the day after the formation of the Palestinian Unity Government.

So, please insert your favourite conspiracy theory here because I've got no idea who organised the slaughter of the Israeli-Jewish youth. Any group with half a brain would know where this would likely lead. Maybe it was the Israeli Security Agency, they're not above a bit of "wet work", maybe someone else (a corporate and/or nation-state is a possibility and there are many other favourites in this box of worms) trying to destabilise the fledgeling Fatah-Hamas administration. Look at it realistically. The slaughter of 3 young men who were settlers and going to an orthodox Jewish high school in the occupied territories was a stress point that was always going to bring us to the point we are today if there was not careful intervention by the Israeli administration. There wasn't.

There are lots of ways to view this particular spaghetti puzzle and there are so many groups involved that I doubt we will ever actually know the ins and outs. What we can do is examine the external detail and try to answer some of the who, what, when, where, why & how questions so later we can look back with hind sight when similar events occur (as they always do when they are as successful as this one has been).

That statement by Haniya that the new Palestinian cabinet was "a government of one people and one political system" really must have annoyed someone. One thing I can't figure out is what advantage this is to Hamas. It doesn't help them in any way manner or form and just backs them into a corner where they have to back resistance fighters because they are a resistance movement fighting oppressors. That is what gives them legitimacy in the eyes of the oppressed they represent. That legitimacy is being threatened by this action and I see no advantage to them. Egypt and Israel, now that's another story. Look to Gaza Marine for just one of many reasons that could be behind the attack.

Anyway, I hope this has been useful to someone and if there have been any errors or omissions please say so I can fix it (and my own failing memory).

-- Pan

[panopticon]

We need to always remember the human tragedies. These are not numbers but somebodies son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, father, friend, lover, wife, husband.

While I was doing the above long post 4 children playing football on the beach @ a Gaza Marina were killed by shells fired from an Israeli Naval Vessel.

It is being reported that they were cousins aged between 9 and 110. Evidently it happened near a hotel that has international press staying in and the children were treated by members of the press for their injuries however none could be saved.

The funeral for these children is already being held:



Israel Defence Force says it will investigate.

-- Pan

Update:

As is obvious in the following post some of the details were out in the above. There were 7 children and 1 adult. The first blast killed one child. It is then alleged by a reporter that the Israeli Navy Vessel re-aimed and fired a second shell which killed 3 more of the fleeing children. The remaining 3 children and 1 adult made it to safety though were lucky to survive a 3rd shell as they climbed over a wall separating the beach and an area nearer to the hotel. Anyone interested in the surviving childrens condition can follow the reports from Peter Beaumont (here) who assisted with first aid on the children and is at the hospital.

[panopticon]

Media report on the death of 4 children as witnessed by foreign media from their hotel balcony.
I haven't included all the images, follow the link to the story for them.

###

Witness to a shelling: first-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port
Peter Beaumont in Gaza
theguardian.com, Thursday 17 July 2014


Smoke billows from a beach shack following the in Gaza City which killed four children.
Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images

There is a deafening explosion, then a second. Four children are dead. Four survivors reach the safety of our hotel.

The retaining wall of Gaza's harbour sticks out into the Mediterranean about 100 metres from the terrace of al-Deira hotel, base to many of the journalists covering the conflict in Gaza. The first of the artillery shells came in a little after 4pm on Wednesday as I was writing on the hotel's terrace.

There is a deafening explosion as it hits a structure on the pier, a place we have seen hit before, where fishermen usually store their nets. Behind the smoke, I see four figures running, silhouettes whose legs are pumping raggedly. They clear the smoke. From their size it is clear they are a man and three young boys.

Where the harbour wall ends and the beach starts, there are a few brightly coloured tents and chairs for beach users in more peaceful times. The four figures jump on to the beach and begin running towards us and the safety of the hotel.

Only afterwards do we discover there are four others who are dead, all children, lying on the wall. I am shown a picture of one of the dead boys, his skin scorched and bruised. Their names are released later: Ahed Bakr, aged 10; Zakaria, 10; and two other boys from the Bakr family, both named Mohammad, aged 11 and nine.

The second shell catches the survivors as they reach the brightly coloured tents. As it explodes, my colleagues, now standing by the terrace wall, shout at unseen Israeli gunners who can't hear them: "They are only children."

The man makes it to the terrace first, scrambling up a steep sandy bank. A skinny man in his 30s, he groans and holds up a T-shirt already staining red with blood where he has been hit in the stomach. He faints, and as he grows pale and limp he is carried to a taxi waved down in the street.

The children are brought up next. Pulling up the T-shirt of the first boy, who looks about eight years old, we find a shrapnel hole, small and round as a pencil head, where he has been hit in the chest over the second rib. Another boy, a brother or cousin, who is uninjured, slumps by the wall of the terrace, weeping by his side.

The boy cries in pain as we clean and dress the wound, wrapping a field dressing around his chest, pressing to staunch the bleeding. He winces in pain, and he is clearly embarrassed too as a colleague checks his shorts to look for unseen femoral bleeding.

A waiter grabs a table cloth to use as a stretcher, but a photographer takes the boy in his arms to carry him to the ambulance that has arrived.

Other colleagues work on the final surviving casualty, an older boy. His arms are scuffed, and a bandage around his head barely staunches a head wound. He too is quickly carried to the ambulance.

In less than 10 minutes it is over. Even the smoke on the pier has died away, save for a last few drifting wisps.

Source

[Dorjezigzag]

[panopticon]

Interesting article from J.J. Goldberg in The Jewish Daily Forward on his thinking of how the entire Gaza situation has gotten away from Bibi after his cover-up of the death of the 3 Israeli-Jewish youths for weeks.

###

How Politics and Lies Triggered an Unintended War in Gaza
By J.J. Goldberg. July 10th 2014.



Kidnap, Crackdown, Mutual Missteps and a Hail of Rockets

In the flood of angry words that poured out of Israel and Gaza during a week of spiraling violence, few statements were more blunt, or more telling, than this throwaway line by the chief spokesman of the Israeli military, Brigadier General Moti Almoz, speaking July 8 on Army Radio’s morning show: “We have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard.”

That’s unusual language for a military mouthpiece. Typically they spout lines like “We will take all necessary actions” or “The state of Israel will defend its citizens.” You don’t expect to hear: “This is the politicians’ idea. They’re making us do it.”

Admittedly, demurrals on government policy by Israel’s top defense brass, once virtually unthinkable, have become almost routine in the Netanyahu era. Usually, though, there’s some measure of subtlety or discretion. This particular interview was different. Where most disagreements involve policies that might eventually lead to some future unnecessary war, this one was about an unnecessary war they were now stumbling into.

Spokesmen don’t speak for themselves. Almoz was expressing a frustration that was building in the army command for nearly a month, since the June 12 kidnapping of three Israeli yeshiva boys. The crime set off a chain of events in which Israel gradually lost control of the situation, finally ending up on the brink of a war that nobody wanted — not the army, not the government, not even the enemy, Hamas.

The frustration had numerous causes. Once the boys’ disappearance was known, troops began a massive, 18-day search-and-rescue operation, entering thousands of homes, arresting and interrogating hundreds of individuals, racing against the clock. Only on July 1, after the boys’ bodies were found, did the truth come out: The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead. It maintained the fiction that it hoped to find them alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas’ West Bank operations.

The initial evidence was the recording of victim Gilad Shaer’s desperate cellphone call to Moked 100, Israel’s 911. When the tape reached the security services the next morning — neglected for hours by Moked 100 staff — the teen was heard whispering “They’ve kidnapped me” (“hatfu oti”) followed by shouts of “Heads down,” then gunfire, two groans, more shots, then singing in Arabic. That evening searchers found the kidnappers’ abandoned, torched Hyundai, with eight bullet holes and the boys’ DNA. There was no doubt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately placed a gag order on the deaths. Journalists who heard rumors were told the Shin Bet wanted the gag order to aid the search. For public consumption, the official word was that Israel was “acting on the assumption that they’re alive.” It was, simply put, a lie.

Moti Almoz, as army spokesman, was in charge of repeating the lie. True, others backed him up, including Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. But when the truth came out on July 1, Almoz bore the brunt of public derision. Critics said his credibility was shot. He’d only been spokesman since October, after a long career as a blunt-talking field commander with no media experience. Others felt professional frustration. His was personal.

Nor was that the only fib. It was clear from the beginning that the kidnappers weren’t acting on orders from Hamas leadership in Gaza or Damascus. Hamas’ Hebron branch — more a crime family than a clandestine organization — had a history of acting without the leaders’ knowledge, sometimes against their interests. Yet Netanyahu repeatedly insisted Hamas was responsible for the crime and would pay for it.

This put him in a ticklish position. His rhetoric raised expectations that after demolishing Hamas in the West Bank he would proceed to Gaza. Hamas in Gaza began preparing for it. The Israeli right — settler leaders, hardliners in his own party — began demanding it.

But Netanyahu had no such intention. The last attack on Gaza, the eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, targeted Hamas leaders and taught a sobering lesson. Hamas hadn’t fired a single rocket since, and had largely suppressed fire by smaller jihadi groups. Rocket firings, averaging 240 per month in 2007, dropped to five per month in 2013. Neither side had any desire to end the détente. Besides, whatever might replace Hamas in Gaza could only be worse.

The kidnapping and crackdown upset the balance. In Israel, grief and anger over the boys’ disappearance grew steadily as the fabricated mystery stretched into a second and third week. Rallies and prayer meetings were held across the country and in Jewish communities around the world. The mothers were constantly on television. One addressed the United Nations in Geneva to plead for her son’s return. Jews everywhere were in anguish over the unceasing threat of barbaric Arab terror plaguing Israel.

This, too, was misleading. The last seven years have been the most tranquil in Israel’s history. Terror attacks are a fraction of the level during the nightmare intifada years — just six deaths in all of 2013. But few notice. The staged agony of the kidnap search created, probably unintentionally, what amounts to a mass, worldwide attack of post-traumatic stress flashback.

When the bodies were finally found, Israelis’ anger exploded into calls for revenge, street riots and, finally, murder.

Amid the rising tension, cabinet meetings in Jerusalem turned into shouting matches. Ministers on the right demanded the army reoccupy Gaza and destroy Hamas. Netanyahu replied, backed by the army and liberal ministers, that the response must be measured and careful. It was an unaccustomed and plainly uncomfortable role for him. He was caught between his pragmatic and ideological impulses.

In Gaza, leaders went underground. Rocket enforcement squads stopped functioning and jihadi rocket firing spiked. Terror squads began preparing to counterattack Israel through tunnels. One tunnel exploded on June 19 in an apparent work accident, killing five Hamas gunmen, convincing some in Gaza that the Israeli assault had begun while reinforcing Israeli fears that Hamas was plotting terror all along.

On June 29, an Israeli air attack on a rocket squad killed a Hamas operative. Hamas protested. The next day it unleashed a rocket barrage, its first since 2012. The cease-fire was over. Israel was forced to retaliate for the rockets with air raids. Hamas retaliated for the raids with more rockets. And so on. Finally Israel began calling up reserves on July 8 and preparing for what, as Moti Almoz told Army Radio, “the political echelon instructed.”

Later that morning, Israel’s internal security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told reporters that the “political echelon has given the army a free hand.” Almoz returned to Army Radio that afternoon and confirmed that the army had “received an absolutely free hand” to act.

And how far, the interviewer asked, will the army go? “To the extent that it’s up to the army,” Almoz said, “the army is determined to restore quiet.” Will simply restoring quiet be enough? “That’s not up to us,” he said. The army will continue the operation as long as it’s told.

The operation’s army code-name, incidentally, is “Protective Edge” in English, but the original Hebrew is more revealing: Tzuk Eitan, or “solid cliff.” That, the army seems to feel, is where Israel is headed.

Source

[Billy]

Well said, Brave Israeli Soldier telling the brutality of Zionism Jews.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mkwYbreneUE

[panopticon]

Mark Regev, Bibi's mouthpiece, gets a bit of a kick in this Channel 4 interview with Jon Snow:
The Israeli military does not target civilians

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Article from Haaretz explaining that Lieberman has told the Foreign Minister of Norway that the failure of the ceasefire talks was not due to Egyptian incompetence but rather a plan by Turkey & Qatar to be the ones who handle negotiations. Lieberman also says that Hamas lied about not receiving the ceasefire notification from Egypt.

That is actually false as I've said previously in this thread that Hamas did receive a copy of the notification (I call it a notification because it is obvious to everyone who is following this that there was no attempt at negotiation made by Egypt).

Hamas rejected the notification as it was not acceptable and was a continuation of what they view as oppressive border control measures (which were supposed to end under the 2012 agreement), did not involve the release of the persons detained by Israel during the "investigation" into the 3 Israel-Jewish youths and would have allowed for continued attempts by Israel to try and destroy the newly formed Palestinian Unity Government (officially created on the 2nd of June between Hamas and Fatah).

There's more reasons that the notification was rejected but I reckon the above few give an idea as to what the Egyptian ceasefire notification was actually about.

###

FM: Turkey, Qatar sabotaged Cairo’s cease-fire proposal
By Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury. July 17th, 2014


Lieberman and Borg Brende at the scene of a rocket attack in Ashkelon on July 16. Photo by Ilan Assayag

Lieberman tells visiting Norwegian FM the two countries are pressuring Hamas not to accept the Egyptian proposal, in order to promote themselves as mediators.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday accused Turkey and Qatar of sabotaging the cease-fire proposal Egypt drafted for Israel and Hamas earlier this week.

Haaretz learned that Lieberman told Borg Brende, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is visiting Israel, that Hamas lied when it said Cairo had not sent it the cease-fire proposal, which Israel initially accepted.

He said Egyptian intelligence officials had given the details of the initiative to Mousa Abu-Marzook, head of the Hamas mission in Cairo.

Meanwhile, Israel agreed on Wednesday night to a request from Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East for UNRWA, to a five-hour cease-fire on Thursday in order to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The death toll in Gaza continued rising on Wednesday, with 18 more fatalities as Israel intensified its air strikes. Altogether 220 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the offensive, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

“Hamas was ready to consider the Egyptian proposal favorably but Qatar wanted to screw the Egyptians and told them not to accept it,” Lieberman told Brende, Haaretz learned.

He said all Qatar’s moves were coordinated with Turkey and both these states are pushing Hamas leaders not to accept the Egyptian proposals.

A senior Israeli official said that Khaled Meshal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, prefers the Qatari—Turkish mediation to Egypt’s brokerage. Meshal is close both to Qatar’s emir and to Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Israel prefers Egypt as negotiator, especially due to its shaky relations with Turkey and severed relations with Qatar.

Brende also met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and offered Norway’s services as an indirect channel to broker a cease–fire between Israel and Hamas. Contrary to European Union nations, Norway is not boycotting Hamas and talks to its leaders.

The cease–fire talks continued Wednesday in Cairo and in a series of telephone calls to diplomats of several states, mainly to the United States. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the telephone to the secretary general of the Arab League and to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in a bid to generate Arab pressure on Hamas.

Quartet envoy Tony Blair and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in Cairo yesterday. Abbas also met Abu-Marzuk in Cairo and spoke on the telephone to Meshal.

Abbas is to leave for Ankara for talks with Erdogan on Thursday.

Despite the intensive talks, so far no concrete formula that both sides could accept has been presented.

Netanyahu said yesterday at meetings with the foreign ministers of Norway and Italy that he had accepted the Egyptian cease–fire proposal, but Hamas rejected it, “closing the door to a diplomatic solution.”

Netanyahu said Hamas will bear responsibility for the repercussions of rejecting the cease–fire.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, nine of the 18 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday were children aged 3-10. Most of the fatalities were from the Khan Yunis area and Gaza City.

Four of the children, of the Bachar family, were killed while strolling on the beach. The four, aged 9, 10 and 11, were killed immediately; several others were wounded.

Yesterday evening six more people were killed in an air strike in Khan Yunis, including a 3-year-old toddler and two children aged 4 and 6.

Palestinian sources said an Israeli aircraft fired at a group of people who had gathered in Khan Yunis’ Absan neighborhood.

The Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continued all day yesterday on dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip, mainly on houses of senior Hamas officials, including political leaders. These included the homes of Mahmoud al-Zahar, former interior minister Fathi Hamad, Hamas parliament member Jamila Ashanti and others.

The houses were empty, probably because their owners were expecting Israel to bomb them, the sources said. Thousands of Palestinians left their homes in the Sejiya and Zaitun neighborhoods of Gaza City after Israel’s warning that it intended to bombard the area. The warning was conveyed through leaflets and telephone cals.

Yesterday morning the IDF fired artillery shells at the Beit Lahia area “in an attempt to encourage population evacuation,” Israeli military sources said.

The Interior Ministry in Gaza called on the people to ignore the Israeli warnings to evacuate their homes near the border fence. The ministry issued a statement saying the warning was part of Israel’s incitement and intimidation campaign against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“The warnings and vocal messages Israel is broadcasting to the houses are intended to create chaos and confusion among the people and intimidate the public. Don’t respond to them,” the statement said.

Despite this, hundreds of families, especially those with children, left their homes. UNRWA figures suggest more than 22,000 Palestinians evacuated their homes. Most of them found refuge in some 20 UNRWA schools.

“We’re trying to help them as much as we can but our resources are limited,” UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasaneh said.

Palestinian officials said the Wafa hospital in Sejiya was also told by Israel to evacuate the premises, but the hospital management refused, saying there was nowhere to take the patients to. There’s no reason to attack a hospital, the management said.

The hospital’s doctors and staff told Al Jazeera they decided to stay with the patients and not leave the premises.

Source

[panopticon]

Good report from Jonathan Miller in a Jon Snow interview on Channel 4 about the ongoing attack on Gaza (includes footage that may disturb some viewers).

http://blogs.channel4.com/miller-on-...nues-ceasefire

-- Pan

[panopticon]

While I'm not a fan of Global Research this article about the link between ISIS and Israel has some really interesting background information that links into what I was saying yesterday:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/justifi...nagers/5391093

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Leading up to the humanitarian ceasefire (that both Hamas & Israel agreed to) there were multiple reports in the MSM that missiles were being fired from Gaza. I was surprised to read a report @ Sky News titled 'Three Die As Israel Fire Just Before Truce'. It said:

Three civilians were killed when Israeli tank shells landed on a house in Gaza minutes before a temporary truce got under way, Palestinian police say.

Fighting between the two sides continued right up to the start of the five-hour ceasefire, which began at 10am local time (8am UK time).

A further four people were seriously wounded in the attack on the southern Gazan town of Rafah, according to medics, while the Israel military said 15 rockets were fired into Israel this morning.
Source

Imagine my disappointment when the title was updated to 'Three Gaza Strikes Hit Israel During Truce'...

3 mortar rounds were evidently fired from Gaza at around the half way mark of the humanitarian truce (10:00 to 15:00 local time [source]).

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Reports that a permanent ceasefire may have been reached between Hamas & Israel are circulating.

The ceasefire is reported to be coming into effect @ 06:00 Friday morning local time (source).

If true, this would be good news for the civilian population on all sides.

-- Pan