Run for cover. Coincidental timing with an Israeli election, with Palestinian statehood bid, and with the typical parrying and sparring between the more fundamentalist Hamas and Fatah as king of the roost and the hearts and minds of Palestinians by gun point if necessary. Maybe a smokescreen, or part of a way that Israel can engage in limiting or lifting the blockade of Gaza although what it gets in return seems dubious at this point. Operation pillar of defense:
“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” Exodus 13:21,22
State Department: “We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, and we regret the death and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence. There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel. We call on those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately. We support Israel’s right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties….
— Hamas military wing says assassination ‘opened gates of hell’—
Hamas claims to have the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart, yet it continues to engage in violence that is counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. Attacking Israel on a near daily basis does nothing to help Palestinians in Gaza or to move the Palestinian people any closer to achieving self determination.”
ADDENDUM:
Uri Avnery tonight:
“Netanyahu and Barak have decided to deliberately violate a cease-fire which had just been stabilized.
At the price of great and ongoing suffering on both sides of the border, the government’s aim has been accomplished: social issues will be removed from the public agenda and the election campaign….
Derfner:Here is my suggestion for how Israel can bring peace and quiet to the people living within rocket range of Gaza: lift the blockade of the Strip entirely (they get all the weaponry and fighters they want through the tunnels anyway); announce that in one year Israel will have no military or governmental presence whatsoever beyond the security barrier (“the wall”) in the West Bank (the settlers will then leave of their own accord, except for a few crazies whom no one will care about); accept the 2002 Arab peace initiative and enter negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to end the conflict; release thousands of Palestinian prisoners with the promise to free them all upon the signing of a peace treaty; and finally, after doing all that, make it clear publicly and privately that any acts of violence against Israelis will be met with harsh reprisals but will not reverse Israel’s course.
The only way to bring security to the Negev is by ending the occupation completely …Read More:http://972mag.com/the-lesson-israel-refuses-to-learn-on-gaza/59683/
For the second time in a row – the State of Israel will conduct general elections under the shadow of war in the Gaza Strip. The cease-fire which already started to stabilize has been broken deliberately and shattered to pieces. The inhabitants of the communities of southern Israel, who just s
ed to breathe freely, are sent right back to air raid alarms and to running to shelters.At the price of great suffering on both sides of the border, the government’s aim has been accomplished: the social issues, which threatened to assume prominence in these elections, have been pushed aside and removed from the agenda of the elections campaign. Forgotten, too, is the brave attempt of Mahmoud Abbas to address the Israeli public opinion. In the coming weeks, the headlines will be filled with constant war and death, destruction and bloodshed. When it ends at last, it will be revealed that no goal has been achieved and that the problems remain the same, or perhaps exacerbated. ”
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Tarek Fatah:Canada will burn (,) praise Allah.” Five words defacing a Toronto War Memorial on Remembrance Day, sent shock waves through the country. Memorials to our war dead have been vandalized before, but by petty thieves stealing metal plaques. This, however, was the first time hostility towards Canada was demonstrated, albeit with an Islamic angle.
Like most Muslim Canadians, I cringed at the implications of this act. How much more will the ordinary Canuck take before, as the Quebecois put it, they reach “le point de bascule.”
The reaction so far has been a numbed silence. The usual suspects screaming “Islamophobia” at any slight to Islam, were silent. No protest, not even a whimper. It was left to the lonely liberal voice of the Muslim Canadian Congress to denounce the act.
So addicted are Muslims to conspiracy theories that within an hour of the reported desecration, Suraia Sahar insinuated on Twitter the defacing was a “false flag” operation — meaning non-Muslims had defaced the memorial and made it appear to be the work of Muslims.
The far-fetched conspiracy theory could not be dismissed outright, except that the same Suraia Sahara had just a few hours earlier, disrupted the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at Old City Hall, chanting slogans against the Canadian Forces….Read More:http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/13/canada-will-burn–fk-the-troops?
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