Saw that as well, and I think there’s a lot at play here.
1) Most critical – Obama. Bush and Israel are trying to sign a quick agreement that ties Obama’s hands.
1A) Obama will be REQUIRED to make “declaration calling on the international community to deal with the smuggling of arms from Iran to terrorist groups.” This should help disrupt ideas abtou negotiating with Iran by starting things off on a bad foot (not that I believe Obama is that interested in making new friends in Iran, anyway).
1B) Intelligence sharing is critical, and the US will be committed to it by agreement. Bobby Inman tells a story that after the 1982 bombing of Osirak, he took some mild actions to limit Israel from having full access to US intelligence photos (they used US satellite photos to plot their route) more than 200 miles to the border. He links this action with his eventual ouster from government.
If Israel is worried the US might show displeasure with Israeli actions by limiting intelligence – well, they have a guarantee in writing now.
2) The shipping program. It would violate international law as you say, but the US is making a big push to say piracy=terrorism (thereby justifying everything we do on the high seas). This is part of that push.
3) American “advisors.” Real tech transfer and economic development into the Sinai won’t change much. But presumably high tech American equipment needs high tech American workers to run it. And economic development programs need administrators. So these programs look like a slow push to insert more US “advisors” into the Sinai, along with the usual bribes of money and tech for Mubarak to ensure he goes along with it.

Posted by: Bill | Jan 16 2009 17:21 utc | 4

The MoU has been signed

The agreement signed between the U.S. and Israel Friday appears to place much of the blame for recent violence on Hamas, saying “the acquisition and use of arms and related materiel by terrorists against Israel were the direct causes of recent hostilities.”
The deal also ‘Unequivocally’ condemns “terrorism as unjustifiable, wherever and by whomever committed and whatever the motivation, in particular, the recent rocket and mortar attacks and other hostile activity perpetrated against Israel from Gaza by terrorist organizations.”
It also said that “Israel, like all nations, enjoys the inherent right of self defense, including the right to defend itself against terrorism through appropriate action.”
…
Earlier on Friday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to provide specifics on on what assets the United States might provide under the deal, saying the basic idea was to ensure “Hamas is not able to be resupplied via sea, land or air.”
He said no U.S. personnel were expected to be stationed in Gaza or in Egypt.

Meanwhile Israel is thinking of a unilateral ceasefire which would of course leave all issues unresolved:

The cabinet will hold on vote on Saturday over whether to enact a unilateral cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The decision would mean Israel has decided to end the operation without an agreement with Hamas, relying instead on the support of the United States and Egypt in battling arms smuggling.
A government source emphasized that there has been great progress with Egypt in reaching an agreement on fighting arms smuggling. The deal would require the combined use of technological measures to fight smuggling on the border between Gaza and Egypt, operations against smugglers in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, and the use of international experts to identify smuggling tunnels on the border.
The deal would also call for cooperation between Israel and Egypt on matters relating to the Gaza Strip in which they have shared interests, without the interference of Hamas.

Posted by: b | Jan 16 2009 18:30 utc | 6

For what it’s worth, Bolivia and Venezuela have cut diplomatic relations with Israel, with Bolivia planning to refer it’s actions to the Hague ICC. Crickets from the western press, of course.
Of course.

Posted by: Thrasyboulos | Jan 16 2009 19:07 utc | 8

A thought. Only partly relevant to the present thread on Gaza.
The Palestinian casualties must be much higher than presently stated. The demolition by bombing of residential buildings is so extensive as to have overtaken the Palestinian capacity to clear them and recover dead bodies. When, after the cease-fire is achieved (if it is ever), a thorough search is made, many more dead will be recovered.
The situation must be similar to the bombing of Dresden in 1945, where the rescue services were so overwhelmed that no-one ever knew how many were killed.
In this case, the destroyed buildings are interdicted by Israeli fire, and the bodies cannot be recovered. Nor those who might have still lived.
The figures at the end will be quite different from what they are now.

Posted by: Alex | Jan 16 2009 21:22 utc | 10

i don’t believe the destruction of Gaza and the killing of its inhabitants has anything to do with Hamas per se.
It is more likely that Israel has finally lost patience with the “imposed diet” i.e. blockade of the place and has decided to render the place uninhabitable.
destroy as much as you can, kill as many as you can with an emphasis on civilians (after all women and future women are future terrorist incubator, and childern i.e. boys will be future terrorists and Israel can’t have this now, can they).
On the 21thJan, when Obama will have lot’s to say about the crisis, Israel will stop bombing, declaring themselves to be oh so victorious, and open one gate out of Hell. The one in Rafah, the one road that leads to Egypt.
Egypt will be bribed, forced to allow the wretched to get refugee status in Egypt, and Israel will have finally cleansed Gaza (with all its natural recources – water, natural gaz) for its own use.
Israel will than use the great Caterpillar Bulldozers to erase the remains of what was once a thriving settlement on the Mediterranean and make it for Israeli Jews only.
Mission accomplished.
But what do i know. But i can not see any other reason for the massmurder happening right now. The political parties in Israel are the same (olmert needed a pair of balls, maybe he found them in the dead eyes of a child), their people live in poverty (it costs a lot to maintain military might and illegal settlements), their GDP is none and so on, but to waste resources just to rile up people to vote?
a new Generation of Israeli Draftees have passed the Blood Baptism that comes with the killing of the innocent, and these Kids are now full fledged Citizen of the State. We will soon see them in Goa, on drugs, desperately trying to forget.
So there is nothing to be gained other than the cleansing of Gaza from its people – conquering terrain and importing people from Israel main, I hear the old settlers would very much like to go back.
As for the death toll – we will never know, just as we don’t know how many died in Iraq, Afghanistan, the empire does not do body counts.
Hope/Change – my very lovely white backside.

Posted by: sabine | Jan 16 2009 22:08 utc | 12

from the ground penetrationg radar link
In 2005, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute deemed it necessary to regulate GPR equipment and GPR operators to control excess emissions of electromagnetic radiation. The European GPR association (EuroGPR) was formed as a trade association to represent and protect the legitimate use of GPR in Europe.
why is this have been necessary if it is a non-destructive method? can overdoses of electromagnetic radiation be harmful to ones health. can ‘mistakes’ damage the health of the population in the immediate region?

Posted by: annie | Jan 16 2009 22:48 utc | 14

comme sabine – i give this stupid livni/rice – document my very lovely white backside & i wouldn”t even bother to wipe that backside with it

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jan 16 2009 23:04 utc | 16

tippi photo op, we’re pandering to israeli election ploys.

Posted by: annie | Jan 17 2009 3:38 utc | 18

UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, a US lackey, went to Israel yesterday. He condemned Palestine actions but is only “concerned” about the mass killing of civilians, including hundreds of children, by Israel.
“I am well aware that rockets have been fired at Israeli civilians for years from Gaza. I have always condemned these rockets as acts of terrorism.
“But I must also be concerned at the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Many people have died and are still dying. Civilian suffering has reached an unbearable point.
“We don’t have any more time to lose. We must end civilian suffering now.
“I count on the wise leadership of the Israeli Government. I want to thank Foreign Minister Livni again for welcoming me to Israel and I look forward to the remainder of my visit. Thank you very much.”
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=400

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 17 2009 5:08 utc | 20

Text of the MoU

Posted by: b | Jan 17 2009 5:30 utc | 22

if israel wants the real estate, they should do like we do here–pour drugs into the ghettoes and just let “those people” tear each other apart, then “get tough on crime” by killing and incarcerating the problem. next, buy up the rubble for pennies on the dollar, then gentrify. the great thing is you don’t ever have to risk incurring global condemnation because bloating prison rates to 1 out of 10 behind bars is much less dramatic than the raining of hellfire.

Posted by: Lizard | Jan 17 2009 7:00 utc | 24

Deleted by the Haaretz censors but still in google cache

The testimonies of Gaza Strip residents are revealing new details about the Israel Defense Forces’ mode of operation there. In the past two days, Beit Lahia residents forced from their homes said soldiers were posing as members of Hamas’ armed wing while advancing on the ground
Gaza resident S. told Haaretz he heard several people say they saw armed men wearing the uniforms and symbols of the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who “called out to each other in Arabic, as if they had caught a collaborator, and then, with the element of surprise, went into the houses
.A Gaza radio station warned that troops posing as locals were driving a vehicle normally used by paramedics. Residents said the radio broadcaster listed the vehicle’s license plate number and color
.Haaretz has also learned that one of the army’s methods for evacuating a home is to fire a missile toward its upper level. That is how B.’s house in Sajaiyeh was destroyed. It was bombed just a few minutes after a missile struck and 40 shell-shocked family members walked out of the house
.The IDF has also forced at least 40,000 people to leave their homes in agricultural and border areas. In Rafah, most of the 20,000 people removed from their homes were lodging with relatives and not in UNRWA facilities

Posted by: b | Jan 17 2009 11:19 utc | 26

Well, the whole MoU stunt is bizarre as it seems to have been negotiated on the assumption that the Egyptians, who don’t appear to have been consulted, will play nice pussycat. Rather awkwardly, the Egyptian FM has publicly dismissed the MoU this morning.
The rather obvious reason for this is that much of the military materiel that gets smuggled into Gaza – ie mortars, rpg’s and guns – is actually pilfered from Egyptian military stores, rather than having an exotic source.
FWIW, I doubt that the MoU has any binding status on the incoming administration – they are perfectly free to ignore or reject it should they choose to; it is, however, a nice little pre-election stunt for Livni.

Posted by: dan | Jan 17 2009 13:06 utc | 28

Obama is not better (may be worse) when it comes to Iran. His appointments and selections of advisors, policy & private meetings are indications of more Zionist influence.
FP report of secret dinner with mostly anti Iran so called expert. List includes beside known anti Iran Zionists including Esfandyari (Jew) wife of Shaul Bakhash well known anti IRI former Shah Royalist. Esfandyari was arrested in Iran last year because of illegal activities for US. but some member jewish member of his speech writers .
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/

Posted by: Loyal | Jan 17 2009 17:01 utc | 30

rudolf, from your link
Livni only lost her peace of mind once, when she was asked by an al-Jazeera reporter if her visit to Washington was part of her election campaign.
i guess i’m not alone in noticing the obvious

Posted by: annie | Jan 17 2009 18:28 utc | 32

you should watch this video of the Palestinian doctor and peace activist on Israeli TV after some of his children were killed (likely not accidentially).
He and the wounded were taken to Israel, where he works in a hospital. He held a press conference there and talked of peace and goodwill:

At that point in the press conference, the doctor’s words were disrupted by Levana Stern, a mother of three soldiers.
“What’s wrong with you, have you all gone crazy?” she said. “My son is in the paratroopers, who knows what you had inside your home, nobody is talking about that. Nobody is talking. Who knows what kind of weapons were in your house; so what if he’s a doctor? The soldiers knew exactly. They had weapons inside the home, you should be ashamed. I have three soldiers, why are they firing at them? All of you should be ashamed.”
After Stern and other visitors at the hospital demanded that the press conference be terminated, the Palestinian doctor said: “I turn to all of you, to the entire world, so you know that my children were the ultimate price, and I don’t want anyone to taste what I suffered. I want them to be the ultimate price for a ceasefire, that’s what I want. The Israeli government should tell the truth. I want my children to be the victims of peace…I am armed with love and peace; this is what I’m armed with. My children were armed with love and peace.”

Posted by: b | Jan 17 2009 19:45 utc | 34

israel announces its defeat

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jan 17 2009 21:11 utc | 36

& these last three weeks has created not only in occupied palestine, not only in the arab world, not only in the muslim world – but all over the world – the possibility of a cadre of young people who are going to be considerably more decisive & more militant
egypt will fall – i am sure of that – the tensions in the military will break loose & the deep deep contradiction of the arab world have met their vanishing point in gaza – it does not appear so but i think it has fundamentally changed. & what it has also done is to take almost the majority of the secular intelligentsia of that world into the arms of those who who seek more fundamentalist solutions
in israel it will get worse & that brutal & corrupt buffoon netanyahu will get his plebiscite & will extend the war even further & i will not be surprised, not surprised at all if the obama administration is on this question no different at all than the criminal bush

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jan 18 2009 0:28 utc | 38

“egypt will fall”
Egypt’s economy has grown during mubarak’s regime. Egypt has enjoyed a net benefit in growth and improving welfare in the post-Camp David era.
Developing arab countries don’t like religious whack-jobs. But you do, it seems. So long as your fantastical “empire” is defeated.

Posted by: slothrop | Jan 18 2009 1:05 utc | 40

Also, Waltz with Bashir is interesting.

Posted by: slothrop | Jan 18 2009 1:08 utc | 42

it has already been defeated slothrop, you were just asleep when it was happenning
& given your fact free defence of egypt perhaps you should go back to sleep

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jan 18 2009 1:15 utc | 44

And I’ll remind you once again how massively incorrect you have been wrt all matters iraq.
On that subject, you have been like Paul Wolfowitz in reverse.

Posted by: slothrop | Jan 18 2009 1:28 utc | 46

The fact that my analysis of the gwot has dismantled your conception of “empire” does not mean I am complicit in the horror of these wars. Least of all is any proof that I am right & you are wrong because I don’t care about the satanic butchering of palestinians. I just look at the facts. I know what kind of leftist I am, and these facts don’t shake my principles. But the facts sure fuck up your theology based upon pathological hatred of “Amerika.”
What the fuck is the matter w/ you? Jesus, you’re a sore loser.

Posted by: slothrop | Jan 18 2009 1:46 utc | 48

i do not know what kind of leftist you are because for a long time your view has been so close to the neoconservatives – i’m just waiting for you to follow toupéed john bolton with his egypt solution & the liquidation of the palestinian people
your pretty picture of iraq & afghanistan do not bear much analysis, much less the exigences of time. history’s little interegnum’s always open up the real story behind the bullshit narratives
i stand behind everything i say about empire, about the inevitability of the defeat of american military forces. on the whole range of questions where you have been proved not only demonstrably wrong with a specific ignorance of the middle east. you say you are a marxist but is appears to me you have never read the economic works which are at the core of his oeuvre & are really necessary tools to understand the times we are living through
i suspect you know no arab people in your day to day life because there is never any inference that you are conscious of the worldviews that are part of their polyphony because what you bring is an arabism without arabs. it is as if edward said never existed. i know you read fisks books but you seem not to have drawn from the substance of his books
so mostly you leave me perplexed & i suppose i have to say again that i am not in the slightest degree touched by your insults because your essential naiveté is clear for everyone to see – you are like an unruly child rattling all the toys in the language sandpit that you might call scholarship

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jan 18 2009 2:49 utc | 50

remembereringgiap, the state needs the surveillance apparatus as the state is afraid of its citizen.
this is worldwide the same and no effort is spared to prevent real education, and liberal discussion. the masses are mis-educated, prepared for their caste, tradesman, office drone, warrior, social helper (mind these are the only ones who to a large extend start out with a heart, but they loose it quickly) etc.
We could find the truth and not like it.
If the state wanted an educated and free citizenry education would be truly free, available to all, we would not read stupid essays about girls and math, and boys and knitting. Pay would be equal, and discrimination nil. None of the negatives that classify humans today would matter as all would be educated according to their true potential.
But every state needs an underclass, a race a gender a religion to discriminate against. And our State sets up the Tools.
Passports with RID Chip, and fingerprints(i almost got thrown out the German embassy in wellington, complaining about this with the history of Germany, and was told that this is just done to prevent terrorism and identity theft, i had to laugh, Sure mate.) The state lets me know, i know who you are, what you do, where you go, what you had for dinner today. none knows this better than the Kid’s the youngsters, the teenagers that are often so maligned by the older generation/news as little shits and evil doers know they have no choice other to obey, or else they will be eternally unemployed/poor sobs. Misbehave in school, permanent record, smoke weed, permanent record etc. our society of today has lost all grace and common sense, and thinks nothing of criminalizing their future adults and taxpayers.
But, and this is a big but, After loosing all hope, i hope some will loose fear of the state and just accept in one way or another it does not matter anymore and just start to undermine the state. Be it by tax evasion, trading goods and services, simple bartering, sharing, etc. As this is the only way…..Starve the Beast.
As for Sloth, Opportuniste – je tourne ma veste (Renould is the name of the singer?). He has no opinion of his own, he just comes to piss in the corner. Ignore him.

Posted by: sabine | Jan 18 2009 4:03 utc | 52

SOW, they had a fairly creepy post on BBC tonight how in ????, presume it’s Canada, anyway the reporter said that in 94.5% (<-- creepy part, the Nazi accuracy) of hospital admissions of protesters, on-call attending physicians had reported signs of police brutality: blunt force trauma, fist or boot bruising, handcuffs wracked on until blood ring formed, that kind of thing, on ~2/3rd's of the protestors. The creepy part was physicians hadn't reported these signs to authorities, but to a medical reporter/statistician (hence the 94.5%). When asked why they didn't report the obvious signs of illegal police abuse, they said, "We have received no training or policy direction on how to respond." Imagine the Brits who first discovered Treblinka saying something like that. Imagine Americans, for that matter, calmly watching Gaza liquidation over pizza.

Posted by: Polly περιπατητικός | Jan 18 2009 4:39 utc | 54

I don’t care about the satanic butchering of palestinians. I just look at the facts. I know what kind of leftist I am, and these facts don’t shake my principles.
?

Posted by: Lizard | Jan 18 2009 5:14 utc | 56

Again, you link these atrocities to “empire,” when europoe stands there and does nothing, good vassals they all are of the cosmic overlords. Or something.
It’s these inconsistencies in your maudlin handwringing “analysis” I detest. And it’s why 95 times out of a 100 you’re wrong. And you have undeniably been wrong, you old cow.

Posted by: slothrop | Jan 18 2009 16:38 utc | 58