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Interestingly, as I’d quipped at the end of this post, from about a month ago: I’m all for a UN imposed ‘No Fly Zone’ over Gaza…! Well, it seems the Arab League agreed with me…
Arab League urges Gaza no-fly zone
The Arab League Council called on the UN Security Council Sunday to consider an air embargo on Israeli military flights over Gaza, reports said.
The council’s appeal, submitted by Syria at a special meeting in Cairo, asks the Security Council to immediately convene to adopt a resolution enforcing a no-fly zone, the Syrian news agency SANA reported late Sunday.
The initiative is aimed at protecting unarmed civilians, ending the siege imposed on the Strip and stresses the Palestinian people’s right to resist the Israeli occupation, according to the news outlet.
The Arab League body condemned Israel’s “plotted barbaric aggression” on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip as part of a series of “frequent crimes” violating international legitimacy and laws, SANA said.
It also expressed astonishment at the international community’s “suspicious silence.”
In the region, meanwhile, both Israeli and Palestinian officials expressed support for a potential ceasefire, after days of rocket fire and Israeli air raids that have killed at least 18 people in Gaza.
Now, as Haaretz had reported recently…
Palestinian official: Israel, Gaza militants agreed to a cease-fire
Although neither Israel nor the Palestinians confirmed the cease-fire, a significantly smaller number of rockets were fired from Gaza on Sunday and Palestinians reported no Israeli air strikes.
A Palestinian official close to United Nations and Egyptian-mediated negotiations told Reuters on Sunday that Israel and militant groups in Gaza had agreed a truce, as cross-border violence abated. [...]
Israel’s retaliatory air strikes have claimed the lives of 19 Palestinians, while militants have continued firing rockets from Gaza into Israel.
However, no Israeli air strikes were reported on Sunday. Israeli police and military officials said around 10 missiles had been fired from Gaza, a significant fall from the 130 of the previous two days.
“Palestinian factions have agreed to halt rocket fire and Israel agreed to cease attacks on the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian official said.
There was no official confirmation from either side, but a senior Israeli official told Reuters: “We will judge the other side over the next few days. The extent to which Hamas controls the other militant groups will affect the way we choose to act.”
“What happens from here on is up to the other side,” the official told reporters in Tel Aviv, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It seems calmer now, but it is still not clear where this is going.”
Hamas’ official website said that the ceasefire had been in place since Sunday morning. The ten rockets that landed in Israel on Sunday Palestinians blamed on those who disagreed with the ceasefire.
Here’s some reports that highlight how fragile the ceasefire is…
Israel to continue fighting ‘terror in Gaza’ despite Hamas ceasefire plea
After briefing on Sunday, cabinet decides to instruct IDF to continue to work against terror in Gaza in order to stop the rocket fire which continues to pound Israel’s southern region.
Netanyahu warns Hamas of ‘severe response’ to increase of rocket fire…
Lieberman: Israel should topple Hamas
Israel should not settle for a truce with Hamas in Gaza, and should instead seek to topple the Islamist rulers of the coastal strip, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday.
South serene for now, but IDF ready for fresh escalation…
From Hamas and Gaza…
Hamas: We won’t surrender or violate truce
Hamas politburo member Salah Al-Bardawil said Sunday that Palestinian groups “will be committed to a truce as long as Israel is committed as well.”
Palestinian factions in Gaza “do not want to drag the Palestinians to war amidst the changes taking place in Arab countries without media outlets focusing on Gaza, so they accepted the truce,” he said.
However, “Palestinian resistance will not accept surrender,” his statement said.
He noted that “the Palestinian factions agreed previously on a unilateral truce entitled ‘committed as long as the enemy is’ but the [Israeli] occupation violated this truce by killing children and women, and the resistance responded in a limited way making the occupation hit back much more harshly in its aggression.”
Al-Bardawil said that Israel had apparently approved the truce with Palestinian factions.
Despite truce, little-known group fires projectile…
I think this best sums it up… Gaza ceasefire unlikely to last: Israeli press…
Now, Haaretz featured two great Op-eds about their recent Wikileaks: Israel ‘File’
The first was penned by Yossi Sarid…
Politicians and the truth / The danger of doublespeak
Israel’s leaders know the truth about the political situation but are afraid to speak it, as if Israelis were children who must be shielded from the cruel reality.
It’s not clear what pushes VIPs to confess to Americans as if to a priest or psychologist. Maybe a psychological explanation is in order: At some point, people must have a chance to relieve themselves of the burden of lies. [...]
Like spouses who have been cheated on, Israelis are the last to know. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the settler leaders know the truth – they’re just afraid to say so.
They, too, understand what our fate will be in this land if it is not divided. But why should they tell us that the settlers would evacuate for proper compensation? For now, the head of the Yesha Council of settlements will only whisper it to the Americans, perhaps so they can start getting the money together.
They’re afraid to speak the truth as if Israelis were children who must be shielded from the cruel reality. They’re afraid they will be thrown out of office when the people realize they’ve been tricked. It turns out that Israel now wants a strong Hamas, a general said, without which the state of Gaza will be even more violent…
The second one penned by Alon Idan spared no one…
What WikiLeaks can tell us about Israel’s ‘leaders’
The WikiLeaks documents prove that the Israeli public likes to be governed aggressively by persons who tend to feed them lies.
A reading of the so-called Israel file found among the WikiLeaks documents reveals the stuff of which Israel’s “leadership” is made. To sum it up, an Israeli leader apparently carries two basic genes: one of aggression and one of charlatanism. In ideological terms, that means that such a leader has most likely been influenced by Machiavelli’s “The Prince” – based on the great assumption that said leader has actually read the book. If for a moment we switch things around and extrapolate, this also means the Israeli public likes to be governed aggressively by persons who tend to feed them lies.
According to the documents, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the king of charlatans. He is mostly preoccupied with tactics like enhancing visibility and marketing. [...]
In November 2009, during a meeting with members of the U.S. Congress, Netanyahu says jokingly: “What is the difference between on and off the record in Israel? Two weeks.” In other words, even his jokes deal with how to create two realities – one confidential, the other not – with a comic dimension attributed to the very short period during which the con is perpetrated.
“Netanyahu” is a marketing term which describes the way in which reality is presented in order to preserve power…
Could Bibi finally be seeing the light…?
Netanyahu mulls pulling IDF forces out of Palestinian West Bank
The prime minister is considering this and a series of other measures to block the ‘diplomatic tsunami’ that may follow international recognition of Palestinian state at UN General Assembly in September.
I’m not holding my breath…!
12 Comments
“Could Bibi finally be seeing the light…?”
ha ha ha ha ha ha .
ha
This title was changed by Haaretz, so it’s the cached version.
Of aggression and charlatanism
The WikiLeaks documents prove that the Israeli public likes to be governed aggressively by persons who tend to feed them lies.
A No Fly Zone begins with bombing. Has that been taken care of already? I didn’t even know that Gaza even had any planes!
…I didn’t even know that Gaza even had any planes!…
*heh* The idea is to ground the American-made drones and fighter planes that Israel uses to pound Gaza…! ;-)
Interesting that Haaretz altered the title of the Op-ed, Shek…!
“Gaza ceasefire unlikely to last”
Probably not, but I’ll offer a prayer.
Does “no fly” include rockets and mortars, or just planes and drones?
Well, the Israelis do have that new-fangled Iron Dome deployed…! But, yes it should apply to the Gazans too…!
The title probably hurt somebody’s feelings..
They would really need to create a no fly zone over Israel. That’s not going to happen though, it’s just for public consumption. Perhaps to make Mussa look good so they can shoehorn him in as president of Egypt. (the Saudi Candidate)
“Israel to continue fighting ‘terror in Gaza’ despite Hamas ceasefire plea”
This is the same excuse Barak used for continuing military incursions into Gaza, which back in 2008, caused a breakdown of the ceasefire that had been in place. It led to Cast Lead just before the Israeli elections. Netanyahu had been running a hard campaign claiming that Kadima “was soft on Palestinians.” Barak showed the Israeli people that that was untrue, and ended up killing 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza including over 300 children.
Of course the ceasefire will not last. It is not intended to last.
Recommended.
Hmmmmm ……
In which case would it not be better to replace their entire political establishment and military command with scantily clad
youngladiespersons of the sex that attracts them.Equip these dominatrixes/or whatevers with whips, floggers, spankers and other stuff like that. It goes without saying that this should be done at USA taxpayers’ expense. You guys pay for everything else they use and this would be cheaper, more effective, less immoral. Moreover the Israeli electorate could finally come out of the closet as masochists and
proudashamed of it.As to the lies, no problem! The lies can be easily handled:
markfromireland
PS: A further benefit is that they’ll so blissed out from getting their jollies that they won’t have the energy to massacre any more Paletinian kids woulkdn’t that be a great improvement?
mfi
“Netanyahu mulls pulling IDF forces out of Palestinian West Bank”
This statement is only significant depending on what one means by the West Bank today, with Israel controlling 60% of it, including the Jordan Valley, which Netanyahu has vowed to keep. In short, this mulling is really a mulling over the world’s reaction to what would become an Apartheid state of Palestine, a group of disconnected cantons separated by walls and checkpoints, surrounded by Israeli forces. Withdrawal does not mean withdrawal from entrances and perimeters of the more than 250 (legal and illegal)settlements Israel has built in the West Bank (note: aside of claims, all Israeli settlements are illegal by international law).
Hence this mulling of Netanyahu is nothing more than rescheduling or moving up the annexation of the West Bank into Israel, minus the “cantons” that would constitute Palestine. Essentially, Palestine in this situation would merely join Gaza as a disjointed country under siege. Israel would control everything going into and out of this Apartheid state.
Whatever israel decides to do or not to do, the outcome will not be good for the Palestinians. israel’s ultimatel goal is to kill or displace all Palestinians and claim all of that land because the Palestinians withdrew “of their own accord.”
If that’s their “ultimate goal” then wasn’t giving Gaza back kind of counter-productive?
Kind of like their goal is to wipe them off the map or something.
I’m not sure I follow you, shekissesfrogs: are you making a reference to Ahmadinejad?