Hamas Agrees to One-Week Cease-Fire in Gaza Conflict

Good news here:

JERUSALEM — Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza announced an immediate, week-long cease-fire in the conflict with Israel on Sunday, about 12 hours after an Israeli unilateral cease-fire went into effect.

The Palestinian groups said in a statement that they would give Israeli troops a week to leave Gaza. Hamas leaders outside Gaza had previously said the group would continue fighting so long as Israeli troops remained on the ground.

The cease-fire announcement, coming after 22 days of war that killed more than 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, was confirmed by the Palestinian groups’ exiled leaders meeting in Damascus.

I'm curious what will happen next. Does Hamas strike back after the Israelis leave Gaza? Will there be a rash of suicide bombings? Probably. Expect more bloodshed and the death of innocents in the coming days.

It's all about Iran

I found this fascinating quote in Thomas Friedman's column this morning:

“The Gaza that Israel left in 2005 was bordering Egypt. The Gaza that Israel just came back to is now bordering Iran,” said Mamoun Fandy, director of Middle East programs at the International Institute of Strategic Studies. “Iran has become the ultimate confrontation state. I am not sure we can talk just about ‘Arab-Israeli peace’ or the ‘Arab peace initiative’ anymore. We may be looking at an ‘Iranian initiative.’ ”

It seems that much of Israel's justification for entering Gaza is to contain Iran. In it's own machiavellian sort of way, it's a brilliant move. Immoral as hell. But brilliant.

Picture from school bombing in Israel

I wrote about the Israelis bombing that school in Gaza earlier, but I thought this picture said it all. Awful.

Israeli Troops Advance, Bisecting Gaza

Israel continues to tear shit up:

GAZA — Israeli troops advanced into Gaza on Sunday under cover of heavy air, tank and artillery fire after opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas on Saturday night.

Witnesses said the Israeli forces had punched across Gaza, bisecting its northern and southern parts, and had taken over certain strategic areas, including what the military has described as rocket launching sites.

The ground campaign came after a week of intense airstrikes. Israel’s stated goal was to destroy the infrastructure of Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza’s government, and to significantly decrease the threat to southern Israel from Palestinian rocket fire.

I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop and the Shias in Iran and Syria intervene on the Palestinians behalf. That's when we get an all-out Middle East war.

Israel strikes Hamas, kills more than 200 people

A couple of days ago, I had a post about the Palestinians firing rockets into Israel.

Well the Israelis struck back today:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from Gaza pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of air strikes Saturday, killing at least 145 and wounding more than 310 in the single bloodiest day in Gaza in recent memory.

Hamas said all of its security installations were hit and in response fired several medium-range Grad missiles at Israel, reaching deeper than in the past. One Israeli was killed and at least four were wounded.

Well obviously, if someone keep firing rockets into your country, retaliating is an legitimate option. But check out some of the details from the New York Times story:

A military operation against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, had been forecast and demanded by Israeli officials for weeks, ever since a rocky cease-fire between Israel and Hamas broke down completely in early November and rocket attacks began in large numbers against Israel. Still, there was a shocking quality to Saturday’s attacks, in broad daylight on about 100 sites, as police cadets were graduating, women were shopping at the outdoor market and children were emerging from school.

The center of Gaza City instantly became a scene of chaotic horror, with rubble everywhere, sirens wailing, and women shrieking as dozens of mutilated bodies were laid out on the pavement and in the lobby of Shifa Hospital so that family members could identify them. The vast majority of those killed were Hamas police officers and security men, including two senior commanders, but the dead included several construction workers and at least two children in school uniforms.

I get it Israel: National Security. Your enemies are all around you, so you must be strong. But as an individual observer with no allegiances to either Israel or Palestine, it makes me sick to my stomach to know that so many of the innocent-- working men, mothers and little children-- were killed.

Governments and the "patriotic" will justify these killings to no end, I know, I've tried to argue with them. But I wonder if the "patriotic" would say the same thing, if they saw the bodies of those two children carried out of the rubble and brought to their crying parents...

Palestinian militants in Gaza fire mortars and rockets into southern Israel

Just when you think they're out, they pull themselves back in:

Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired mortars and rockets into southern Israel, without causing any injuries.

The Islamist militant group, Hamas, said the attack was in retaliation for three of their men being killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday.

More than 50 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip since Hamas ended a six-month ceasefire last week.

Israel said two crossings in Gaza that were due to re-open on Wednesday would remain closed because of the attacks.

According to the Israelis, 30 rockets and 30 mortars were fired over night on Tuesday and the following day, the BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem reports.

One landed close to a children's playground but did not result in injuries.

However there are reports of injuries in Gaza, where some of the rockets fell short of their target, says our correspondent.

There are also conflicting accounts over whether the three men who died last night were shot by the Israeli army or were killed when a bomb they were planting blew up.

Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the ceasefire on Friday, saying it had not respected its terms, including the lifting of the blockade under which little more than humanitarian aid has been allowed in.

The Israeli government meanwhile said it had begun a staged easing of the blockade, but this was halted when Hamas failed to fulfil agreed conditions, including the ending of all rocket fire and halting weapons smuggling.

Earlier, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on a visit to Cairo that Egypt would press for the truce to be renewed.

Not exactly the best way to spend Christmas Eve. Plus, it's another reason to always be skeptical that anything can ever really be done between Israel and Palestine.