Until we see the terms of ceasefire (assuming there is one) we can’t really tell. So long as Hamas can rearm, then they can at least claim a modicum of deterrence: assassination can’t be undertaken so lightly.
Also, Iron dome turned out to be far too expensive to be used against Hamas in a long drawn out war. Hamas proved that even a very small and blockaded force can obtain enough rockets to exhaust ID. Western media will pump it up as a great achievement and the manufacturers will try to push it on the rest of the globe, though I can’t think of anybody who would need one, even if it did work.
The real strategic implications remain to be scene. Did the Arab world finally notice the hypocrisy between Syria and Gaza? Did they see the clear cut collaboration between Qatar/KSA and Israel? Did they notice that Iran/Syria/Hezbollah are the only real friends the Palestinians have? I can only hope so, but I can’t say for sure yet.

Posted by: Lysander | Nov 21 2012 18:27 utc | 3

It seems Israel actually had to agree to something with the US as witness

EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNOUNCES GAZA CEASEFIRE
– Egyptian Foreign Minister says truce starts at 1900 GMT
– Clinton says Egypt’s new government is assuming “responsibility, leadership” in the region.
– Gaza-Israel ceasefire deal has Egyptian “guarantees,” Egyptian source close to truce talks says
– Egyptian source says truce includes end to “assassinations” and “incursions,” will also ease movement of Palestinians
– Ceasefire between Hamas and Israel agreed: Palestinian official with knowledge of talks
– Egyptian official confirms to Reuters ceasefire agreement reached between Palestinians, Israel
– Israel has agreed to truce in Gaza, but will not lift blockade: Israeli sources
-Netanyahu tells Obama he is ready to give ceasefire a chance – Israeli prime minister’s office
– Israel’s Netanyahu warns more forceful action might be needed if ceasefire fails – statement

The issue this will have been mainly about is the “Philadelphi Route“, that would be the “guarantees” I cannot see Egypt taking this too seriously though …

Posted by: somebody | Nov 21 2012 18:31 utc | 5

The text of the agreement via reuters – critical ambiguous point:

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.

“shall be dealt with” doesn’t say anything.

Posted by: b | Nov 21 2012 19:11 utc | 7

I think the Palestinian resistance groups will work hard from now on the acquire more anti-air defence systems..
The IDF couldn’t launch a ground invasion because they feared suffering massive losses – which was guaranteed.
After all the huffing and puffing, Bibi’s proven to be a coward..

Posted by: Zico | Nov 21 2012 19:32 utc | 9

To answer your question, nobody won. But the Gazans are still standing and that’s the best they could have hoped for. I think Israel’s position is eroding.
Remember during the Cast Lead operation, the attack on the principles of proportionality? It’s back again, this time with desperation. From American pundit Walter Russel Mead:
“the television pictures that drive much of the world away from Israel often have the effect of strengthening the bonds between Americans and the Jewish state”
He’s saying that American TV viewers seeing the torn bodies of children killed by Israel actually has the effect of strengthening the ties between their country and Israel. This is perverse but let’s say it’s true. I don’t see how this advances Israel’s cause in any meaningful way. Sure, Israel has leave to kill a few more children the next day without fear of being blamed. However, impunity with American TV viewers in killing children is not going to win any war for Israel. Thinking otherwise is just more evidence of Israel’s moral and intellectual bankruptcy.
I wrote about this in some detail here.

Posted by: Martin Trueman | Nov 21 2012 19:40 utc | 11

Israel won as usual. The fight, but it seems to have lost the media war. “Lost” being a strong world, more like: it was not able to have only lies published, some dead Palestinian kids finally got a bit of attention.
Egypt and Turkey provided only lip service to the Palestinian cause, as I’m not aware of any anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons being sent to Gaza by these “benefactors”. The rest of the Arab world was, pretty much, a farce.
And, “better yet”, Israel can, at any time, invade and claim it was in retaliation, and the whore media will publish that as gospel.
The Palestinian people lost big time.

Posted by: Tod | Nov 21 2012 20:13 utc | 13

My guess is if Israel agrees to stop its aggression under the conditions mentionned above on a post i read, it is not only a clear sign if strategic failure for them , it is also a clear demonstration that Syria is still a key player, just like Iran is. Syria , (and Bashar ) .has won too.

Posted by: Nabil | Nov 21 2012 20:16 utc | 15

The whole thing stinks. I can’t work out what the hell just happened over the last week and what the motives really were from any of the players involved.
But the elephant in the room remains Assad, and the media circus will now turn its attention back towards him.

Posted by: Pat Bateman | Nov 21 2012 20:42 utc | 17

@18
You must be reading different news than me. All I see is the same posturing as before. When did the US recognize Hamas? Please tell!

Posted by: Tod | Nov 21 2012 20:50 utc | 19

Hamas won; Abbas lost and by far the biggest loser is Netanyahu making the fateful mistake of assassinating children and Jabari who was working on a permanent truce with Israel. Netanyahu’s political greed and backward judgment brought on nothing but chaos and tragedy.
Hamas proves that it is the backbone of Palestine. Unlike Abbas, Hamas had the guts to confront Israel and challenge it at its game.
Deterrence commands respect and works.

Posted by: kalithea | Nov 21 2012 21:07 utc | 21

There are two very important points to note about the text of the cease fire
Point (1)
Where it deals with both sides agreeing to not attack the other I will ask everyone to mull the difference between:
“Israel SHOULD stop”….
and
“All Palestinian factions SHALL stop”…..
The first (“should”) is a suggestion that Israel is free to accept/reject, whereas the second (“shall”) is an order.
Which all means that Israel is free to initiate hostilities whenever it chooses to shout “Gosh, I’m feeling threatened!”
Point (2)
This agreement clearly does nothing to end the blockade.
According to 1(c) the crossing for both persons (i.e. the Rafah crossing) and goods (i.e. the Erez crossing) must reopen, but note that it’s only the “residents’ free movements” (i.e. Rafah) that can not be restricted. There is nothing in this agreement that prohibits the restriction of goods (i.e. Erez).
So according to this agreement Israel must reopen the Erez crossing within 24 hours, but Israel is free to o.p.e.r.a.t.e. that crossing as it sees fit.
Which will mean Business As Usual.
Man, whoever negotiated this on behalf of Hamas simply didn’t know what he was doing….

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 21 2012 21:37 utc | 23

Johnboy 23, sure, but Israel never had a real interest in keeping the crossings closed as it is their businesses that cannot export their goods through them … it is a market of over 1 million people. The more important issue for Gaza is to export their stuff, I hear there has been talk of a free trade zone.
The agreement is the final aknowlegdement that the blockade did nothing as obviously Hamas has plenty of arms and the Palestinian calorie count did not make Gazans revolt.
There are different texts of the agreement as obviously some will be retranslated from Arabic and Hebrew, and the Egyptian more detailed text is different from the basic English text underwritten by the US. It seems Egypt has taken the chair in all this.
As the US is reorienting to Asia and the Muslim Brotherhood appears to be the movement of the day, Israel will have to make nice.
Israel has no military deterrence left if it cannot win against Gaza, and they did not win. Clinton did not come at Egypt’s request she came at Israel’s request. Israel’s strategy to “manage terror” in order not to have to make peace is at a dead end.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 21 2012 22:12 utc | 25

@24 I’m going by what the Israeli press are reporting i.e. they are giving us THEIR english translation of that original text, and THEIR translation makes that distinction.
And, after all, it’s the ISRAELIs who will be seeking to exploit any such loophole, so it’s important to point out that it’s the ISRAELIs who are attempting to insert that hole into the document.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 21 2012 22:20 utc | 27

Who won????
Well, I noticed a willingness, heretofore non-existent, of our media to address the Palestinian side of the story. Yes, it was a soup of information served lukewarm. But, nonetheless, at least it made it to the table. The narrative is changing.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Nov 21 2012 22:33 utc | 29

28, sure, ink never does a thing nor language if the people writing an agreement do not wish to make it work. So if Israel insists on restricting people and goods, Gazans can start a process of complaining to Egypt, to the US, to the EU, to the UN and if of no use fire rockets. Or start to fire rockets immediately. And Israel can then retaliate – again.
However I do think when Israel has added up the costs and benefits of this week’s experience they will prefer to keep the crossings open.
Or do you share Israeli logic that you protect your country by making people fire rockets at you? And somehow magically a rocket that has been fired at you is less dangerous than a rocket that does not get fired at you?
If Israel’s policy is meant to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets – it failed.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 21 2012 22:39 utc | 31

Israel says ‘A,’ does ‘B’ while aiming for ‘C.’ Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Nov 21 2012 22:50 utc | 33

Will the UN application for “statehood” for Palestine go forward?

Posted by: mrm | Nov 21 2012 23:13 utc | 35

well, I’d say Hamas called Israel’s bluff and survived to sign the treaty while still firing rockets, so it won
on the line now is Morsi, who risks losing face if Israel plays dirty; or Israel and the Us risk losing an ally …
maybe the Us were displeased? after all this senseless (even by Zionist standards) aggression sent Hamas back into the arms of Iran and shattered the credibility of the anti-Syrian alliance
Hezbollah and Hamas have been attacked and are both still there, stronger and better armed: a war against Iran is now even more improbable (provocations aside)

Posted by: claudio | Nov 21 2012 23:17 utc | 37

@37 The important point is that an official ceasefire agreement was reached, rather than an Ehud Olmert-style “unilateral ceasefire”.
That means that Netanyahu has entered into official committments by Israel to Hamas and, furthermore, that he has agreed to give Egypt assurances that Israel considers itself bound by those committments.
There is NO WAY ON EARTH that Netanyahu would have wanted to legitimize Hamas by signing that agreement, yet sign it he did.
There can be only one reason why: Bibi wanted out but he knew that if he tried to Pull An Olmert then Hamas was just gonna’ keep on shootin’….
So the big political winner here (and, really, that’s what counts) is clearly Hamas, since they forced Israel to sign an agreement that concedes to Hamas a recognition that it had not hitherto possessed.
Oh, and am I right in thinking that this is the very first agreement that Israel has ever signed which explicitely says that A Country Other Than The USA is the agreed arbiter in dispute resolution?
I’m assuming that’s because the USA doesn’t want to talk with Hamas (which, obviously, an arbiter would have to do), but Israel may rue allowing this precedent to be set….

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 21 2012 23:54 utc | 39

@Johnboy 39 –

The important point is that an official ceasefire agreement was reached, rather than an Ehud Olmert-style “unilateral ceasefire”.

yes;
and Iran scores points in the Arab world:

Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadhan Abdallah Shalah also told Al-Jazeera TV on Tuesday: “the weapons that are fighting the Israeli aggression and arrogance in Palestine come mainly from Iran, as the entire world knows. This is no secret. These are either Iranian weapons or weapons financed by Iran.”

Posted by: claudio | Nov 22 2012 0:33 utc | 41

@42 Yeah, I understand that Israel signs agreements in bad faith, and then doesn’t consider itself to be bound by the articles of that agreement.
Yeah, I get that.
I will point out, however, that one of the reasons why Israel gets away with that is because it always, always, always insists that the United States of American should be the arbiter. And the USA invariably lets Israel get away with murder, as you so meticulously document.
Oslo is a very good example, because the name itself tells you that the negotiations were originally sponsored by the Norwegians (not the USA, which was fixated on the Madrid Conference). Yet when it came time to sign the document that ceremony took place….. on the White House lawns, and not in Oslo.
As in: once the negotiations got to the interesting stage of drafting an agreement then the Norwegians were unceremoniously shoved out of the way and the USA elbowed itself into the official role of the Oslo Accords Umpire(tm).
But note that this time it’s different.
This time it’s Morsi – not Obama, nor Hillary – who gets to hold that whistle, and so it’s the EGYPTIANS who get to blow the whistle on time-wasting and tardiness.
Does that actually mean much? Dunno, to be honest, because this is a completely *new* experience for all parties.
But it is *new*, and that in itself is worthy of note.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 22 2012 2:15 utc | 43

@44 “Now Hamas will make nice with Abbas for the UNGA Palestine statehood thing Nov 29.”
That would be the smart play from Hamas i.e. give their blessing to the PLO’s diplomatic initiative, or at least announce that they are not opposed to it.
Mind you, I’m sure there are some hotheads in Gaza who are urging Hamas to rub this in Abbas’ nose by deriding the UN initative as A Big Honkin’ Pile O’ Nothin’.
That would be a mistake, but they may decide to do it anyway.

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 22 2012 3:10 utc | 45

I haven’t read the comments yet but, imo, “Israel” won another battle but lost another round of its war for legitimacy in the eyes of all the decent people in the world. A moral and intellectual sewer, with founding principles of theft, murder and insultingly puerile bullshit will never be regarded as a legitimate “country” no matter what lies the “Israelis” tell themselves and each other.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 22 2012 3:30 utc | 47

How often have you seen some scumbag Israeli “spokesman” claim that “the Palistinians don’t want peace”???
Well, have any of you considered that this “agreement” may be a set-up?? Imagine, if you will, (despite this “agreement”), a Palestinian terrorist act, so heineous, that it is paraded as proof positive that “the Palistinians don’t want peace”.
Israel, of course, will not abide by ANY agreement that involves sacrificing any aspect of its long-term goals. This particular agreement, with its seemingly epic concessions and promises on Israel’s part, presents Israel with a stellar opportunity to once and for all show the Palestinians as bloodthirsty savages that will reject any reasonable peace offer and concession offered by the Israelis. Look for a major terrorist act, “committed by Hamas”, on the heels of this “agreement”???? Why not?? Israel won’t sacrifice a few of its own citizens to accomplish long term goals? Bullshit.
Mark my words…the ONLY reason this “agreement” is being paraded in front of us is so that the Palestinians can be portrayed as being unable to abide by ANY agreement, no matter how reasonable or favorable to the Palestinian cause. This is a fucking farce, a charade, this so-called “ceasefire agreement”.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Nov 22 2012 4:08 utc | 49

@50 Daniel, compare and contrast:
With the Oslo Accords the Norwegians did the grunt work and then the Americans elbowed them out of the way.
Result: the USA “owned” the peace process that followed on from the signed of those accords and – surprise! surprise! – Israel couldn’t help itself and kept reneging on its part of the deal and the USA couldn’t find it in itself to berate the Israelis for failing to do what they committed themselves to doing.
But the USA simply couldn’t bring itself to “own” this ceasefire agreement – to do so was to recognize Hamas, and the USA refuses to do that.
Result: Egypt now “owns” the process of holding each side to account for any reneging that might take place and – no surprises here – Morsi is not going to allow Israel to get away with the same sort of backsliding bullshit that would take place if Hillary Clinton were the umpire.
If Israel backslides on this agreement then Morsi won’t hestitate to blow that whistle.
Whether that would do any good is something that I simply can’t predict, but it *is* a new development.
Hopefully, a positive development, but time will tell….

Posted by: Johnboy | Nov 22 2012 4:42 utc | 51

50, the difference are Hamas weapons, and their “safe zone” – the state of the art of guerilla warfare where the fighters withdraw to tunnels, so they survive air attacks to fight the ground war plus the way social media works.
You get the images and sound of people like you and me living and dying in a war zone. No Israeli propaganda effort can counter these images. No “precise” bombing can avoid to kill women and children in a place like Gaza.
The difference also is that with Oslo Israel was suddenly in the clear and everybody hoped for peace – yes Israelis then voted for politicians who subverted that peace but for a long time Israel could keep up the pretense. The images of the Intifada worked against the Palestinans, the suicide bombers clearly being directed against civilians. This time the images work the other way round and Israelis have to stretch their injured numbers by including “shock”.
Also, main stream media no longer being in control of the message and the competition to influence the “Arab Street”. Lots of factors have changed.
And of course a huge factor is the US Jewish community – a large part simply does not share Netanyahu’s values.
Another huge factor – the end of the cold war. Israel is of no strategic value of the US whatsoever – it is quite a burden.
Having said all this – of course the Gazan and West Bank population have been losing all the time – no democracy, no freedom of movement, no equal opportunities, assassinations, bombs, shelling. What they are fighting for are basic human rights.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 22 2012 7:03 utc | 53

I do keep wondering – the bus bomb in Tel Aviv – was the technology the same as used in Syria brought in from Jordan?

Posted by: somebody | Nov 22 2012 13:44 utc | 55

Allegedly 70% of the Jews in Israel were against the ceasefire. Some IDF soldiers think “Bibi is a loser”.
This Israeli opinion is the most realistic I could find: Operation Cast Ballot: Post Mortem

A ceasefire is being announced, and we can officially mark Cast Ballot as a failure. It is a failure as far as Binyamin Netanyahu is concerned: he could have made it to the polls with four years of relative quiet, and he chose to end his second term with Tel Aviv being bombed (for the first time since 1991), as well as Jerusalem (first time since 1970), and a terror attack on a bus to boot, seemingly a first since 2005. As in 1997, when he ordered the botched assassination of Khaled Masha’al and ended up empowering Hamas by releasing Ahmed Yassin from prison, Netanyahu – whose slogan once was “strong against Hamas” – will end yet another campaign by strengthening Hamas.
…
And Cast Ballot is a failure, first and for most, for the holiest of Israeli behemoths, the IDF. It has proven itself, again, to be a blunt instrument incapable of carrying out its mission. As expected, the Air Force – which a common joke says is so different from the regular IDF, it ought to be considered a friendly foreign force – began the attacks by taking out quality targets. Then, after three days, it ran out of such targets, and the killing became much more random. First a family of 12 is extinguished; then a family of four, two of which are children; and on the last day of the operation, our brave flying death squad blow a vehicle sky-high, only to later find out it contained three journalists. Oops.
This isn’t new and shouldn’t surprise anyone: That’s how it went during the last round and the one before. The IAF has three days of grace, no more. And in all three conflicts, they were wasted.
The main problem is with the ground forces. They were hardly involved in the campaign. The government allowed the mobilization of 75,000 troops, 56,000 of them were actually mobilized – and then the government didn’t dare to use them. They served only as sitting ducks, deployed in open territory without much shelter. An Al Jazeera journalist noticed they were practically exposed to mortar fire, and by that observation expressed more military sense than the IDF officers who sent the troops there.
…
When you use ground forces in attacking a compact, dense populated region like Gaza, you have two choices: You can charge in, which means casualties. Or you can take cover, and use heavy, wild and inaccurate fire (during Cast Lead, the IDF managed to kill five of its soldiers by friendly fire – the same number lost to Hamas activity). Taking the second option leads, almost automatically, to a diplomatic defeat and a loss of the war. But the first option exists only on paper: The Israeli public is not willing to take casualties among soldiers (the death of one soldier was much more reported on than the death of three civilians), and no politician will risk dozens of military funerals – and during an elections, to boot.

Netanyahoo was in a trap the moment he started this war. He couldn’t escalate as any ground invasions would have been catastrophic for him. He also had no viable exit strategy that he could execute alone. Bad set up.

Posted by: b | Nov 22 2012 18:05 utc | 57

@b: I am sure if things like this keep up Bibi might get a chance to “appease” them ..
“One Palestinian has been killed and 10 teenagers wounded as Israeli soldiers open fire.”
Israeli soldiers open fire in buffer zone

Posted by: Rod Brown | Nov 23 2012 10:04 utc | 59

And now the New York Times is inventing news

Maan, the Palestinian news agency, reported that a group of Palestinians went to Abassan, a border area east of the southern town of Khan Younis, on Friday to pray on their land, and ended up throwing stones at soldiers, who responded with gunfire. Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, identified the man who was killed as Ahmad Qudih.

Nowhere does Maan in the above link say the Palestinians were throwing stones at the soldiers. What Maan says is this

Witnesses told Ma’an a group of citizens were gathering to perform Friday prayer on their land near the border.
A relative of the dead man, who was at the scene, told Reuters that Qudaih had been trying to place a Hamas flag on the fence. He added that an Israeli soldier had fired into the air three times before Qdeih was hit in the head by a bullet.
Medics said four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire on Thursday near the fence. An army spokesman said 200 Palestinians approached the fence and “began rioting” before causing damage to the fence.

That is a real New York Times low. They have a right to spin news. But misquoting a Palestinian news agency is a no by any standard.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 23 2012 11:09 utc | 61

Judging by the “uncomfortable looks” on the faces of the politicians (Lib/Dem Charles Kennedy and Conservative Iain Duncan Smith) the truth is a little embarrassing.
Fair play to Owen Jones for pointing out the actual timeline live on BBC’s Question time.
Owen jones BBC Question Time

Posted by: Rod Brown | Nov 23 2012 11:49 utc | 63

On “who won”
“Only a fifth of Israelis think Israel “won” the eight-day conflict with Hamas that ended on Wednesday, and fewer than two-fifths feel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handled the conflict well, according to an opinion poll taken Thursday.”

Posted by: somebody | Nov 23 2012 14:15 utc | 65

Netanyahu is using all the activity in Syria and the Iran crisis as a cover for continued expansion of Israel itself, let’s not forget that both Syria and Iran are long-term problems for Israel. Therefore Netanyahu is quite serious about wanting to get rid of both of those countries.
While Israel cannot hope to do anything effective against Iran, as everyone should know, the entire point of the exercise is to get the US to attack Iran. How that is done is irrelevant from Israels’ point of view.
So let’s not divert our attention from the likelihood of an immediate destructive war in the Middle East to Israel’s long-term plan to turn out the Palestinians. It’s not an either-or situation. It’s all part of Israel’s long-term plan to control the entire Middle East. More importantly, it’s all part of the US ruling elites’ plan to do the same and profit by the wars in the meantime.

Posted by: Cynthia | Nov 23 2012 15:00 utc | 67

Interesting read:
“Israel was established to be a Jewish state. Its institutions have always been shaped and constrained so as to ensure the continued existence of a Jewish majority and character. Passing a test of Jewishness entitles someone to Israeli citizenship regardless of where in the world she lives. Furthermore, her citizenship comes with a bundle of political, social and economic rights which are preferential to that of citizens who do not qualify as Jewish. This inbuilt discriminatory premise highlights the apartheid nature of the state. But apartheid is not an accidental feature of Israel. Its very creation involved immense injustice and suffering. Shielding and rationalizing this inbuilt premise prevents the address of past injustices and ensures their continuity into the future. It is a premise that, in matters of constitutional interpretation, takes precedence over, and thus involves the imposition of ‘reasonable’ limitations on, equality of citizenship.”
More @ LINK

Posted by: Daniel Rich | Nov 24 2012 9:30 utc | 69

Noirette, from your link

At the end of May 2011, Egypt announced the opening of Rafah Crossing on a regular basis for all the residents of Gaza carrying Palestinian passports and identity cards. According to the new rules, the crossing is supposed to operate daily except for Friday; the passage of men ages 18-40 through Rafah is limited to bearers of entrance visas to third countries, people with foreign passports or residency, patients seeking medical care in Egypt or students registered for study abroad. Men in that age group who do not belong to one of the above categories require special coordination with Egypt to travel through Rafah. Palestinian residents of Gaza who wish to travel through Rafah still need to carry Palestinian identity cards approved by Israel, and the ban on imports through Rafah remains intact.

Palestinians are in complete legal limbo. The fight will go on
However, they will get better in every round. Israel gets worse every round.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 24 2012 10:08 utc | 71

Thanks for your post.
is it down

Posted by: expired domains | Nov 27 2012 8:21 utc | 73

“Israeli Terror: The “Final Solution” to the Palestine Question”
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/11/israeli-terror-the-final-solution-to-the-palestine-question/
“For the past forty-five years the state of Israel has been dispossessing millions of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, confiscating their lands, destroying homes, bulldozing orchards and setting-up ‘Jews-only’ colonial settlements serviced by highways, electrical systems and water works for the exclusive use of the settlers and occupying soldiers. The process of Israeli territorial expansion throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem has greatly accelerated in recent years, converting Palestinian-held territory into non-viable isolated enclaves – like South Africa’s Bantustans – surrounded by the Israeli soldiers who protect violent settler-vigilantes as they assault and harass Palestinian farmers at work in their fields, beat Arab children on their way to school, pelt Palestinian housewives as they hang their laundry and then invade and defecate in Palestinian mosques and churches.
Epilogue
Less than 24 hours after the so-called “cease fire” Israeli soldiers murdered an unarmed Palestinian protestor and wounded dozens with live ammunition on the Gazan side of the border. Israel storm troopers raided West Bank homes and arrested 55 Palestinians accused of supporting Hamas. Scores more Palestinians in the Beit Lahia area of the West Bank were summarily arrested and jailed as suspected Hamas members. Jewish vigilante settlers near occupied Hebron uprooted 400 olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers from the village of Hawara. As the missile murderers take their break, the bull dozers rev up their engines: Israel’s leaders pursue their strategic objective of a “pure” Jewish state with their inexorable and destructive juggernaut. The ‘cease fire’ merely changed the methods and the terrain of dispossession for the time being.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has totally demolished its vibrant recovery and growth since the previous war of destruction. In 2011 the economy of Gaza grew by 20%; after the recent Israeli attack who would dare consider Gaza as a place to live and invest?”

Posted by: вот так | Nov 29 2012 3:09 utc | 75