The top leader of Hamas dared Israel on Monday to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian enclave, including a second hit on a 15-story building that houses media outlets. A volley of rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel included one that hit a vacant school.
Speaking at a news conference in Cairo, where the diplomatic efforts were under way, the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, suggested that the Israeli infantry mobilization on the border with Gaza was a bluff on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict.html?ref=global-home&_r=0“If you wanted to launch it, you would have done it,” Mr. Meshal told reporters. He accused Israel of using the invasion threat as an attempt to “dictate its own terms and force us into silence.”
I truly aplologize completely for the post I made that you quoted; it was really wrong of me and I am very sorry to all. The post I made was deliberately facetious in trying to make an ironic point about a carry over issue from another related thread about the rationing of food to the palestinians in the Gaza strip; I should have thought better of it before I submitted it and again please pardon me. I do tend to try to use sarcasm as a means of making my arguements, sometimes I do it at the wrong time which I’ll try to be more careful about in the future.I genuinely don’t know enough about the situation. Maybe they’re farmers, not city workers, I don’t know. But I thought their treatment was very cruel, either way. They could have been refused planning permission and it would seem that the territory they built within, is still part of their homeland, Gaza. I doubt they would have had the ‘nerve’ to build a home, illegally and/ or in Israel territory considering the way they seem to be policed.
Ramallah, West Bank — In the daily demonstrations here of solidarity with Gaza, a mix of sympathy and anguish, there is something else: growing identification with the Islamist fighters of Hamas and derision for the Palestinian Authority, which Washington considers the only partner for peace with Israel.
“Strike a blow on Tel Aviv!” proclaim the lyrics of a new hit song blasting from shops and speakers at Monday’s demonstration, in a reference to Hamas rockets that made it nearly to Israel’s economic and cultural capital. “Don’t let the Zionists sleep! We don’t want a truce or a solution! Oh Palestinians, you can be proud!”
nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/middleeast/hamas-strengthens-as-palestinian-authority-weakens.html?ref=global-homePop songs everywhere are filled with bravado and aggression. But this one reflects a widespread sentiment that does not augur well for President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority, which is rapidly losing credibility, even relevance. The Gaza truce talks in Cairo, involving Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, offer a telling tableau. The Palestinian leader seen there is not Mr. Abbas, but Khaled Meshal, the leader of the militant group Hamas, who seeks to speak for all Palestinians as his ideological brothers in the Muslim Brotherhood rise to power around the region.
Gaza 10 minutes ago
Israel’s air force has dropped leaflets in parts of Gaza urging people to evacuate their homes “immediately”.
Israel seems to be warning of something major which will happen in the next few hours. The leaflets reportedly have been dropped in other parts of Gaza as well. The leaflets describe where residents should go, and the route they should take“For your own safety, you are required to immediately evacuate your homes and move toward Gaza City centre,” leaflets dropped over Gaza City said.
Palestinian gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza Strip who “were caught red-handed”, according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio on Tuesday.
reuters.com/article/2012/11/20/palestinians-israel-collaborators-idUSL5E8MKDL820121120“They possessed hi-tech equipment and filming equipment to take footage of positions,” it said.
That is absolutely horrible, I’m very sorry for these alleged corraborators.Gunmen kill six alleged collaborators in Gaza
reuters.com/article/2012/11/20/palestinians-israel-collaborators-idUSL5E8MKDL820121120
The body of at least one of the men was chained to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets of Gaza City.
"The message from one recent newspaper poll was clear; Israelis support air operations against targets in Gaza by an overwhelming majority - more than 80%.
But it is important to qualify that.
The Israelis I talk to - regardless of whether they are from the left or the right - all feel that they have been goaded into this confrontation by persistent rocket fire from the Gazan side.
Israeli civilians point to the psychological stress of living under that kind of threat in towns like Sderot.
As a foreigner, the question you get asked most is: “How do you think your country would react to being rocketed?”
"Ever since Hamas came to power here in 2007, it has had to tread a fine line between sticking to its resistance movement roots and the more pragmatic business of governing Gaza’s population.
It has to provide jobs, schools, hospitals and other social services.
But more extreme groups in Gaza have, in recent years, accused Hamas of becoming too moderate and failing to fight Israel’s occupation militarily.
Some of the criticism has come from within Hamas’s own military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
(bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20407506)On the violence, most Gazans are united in their opinion: Israel started this week’s major escalation by killing Hamas’s military chief Ahmed Jabari last week."
Gaza about an hour ago
The IDF has tweeted (@idfonline) “Direct hit on a residential building in Rishon Lezion.”
(Rishon Lezion is just south of Tel Aviv)
Gaza about an hour ago
blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/gaza-136Al-Qassam Brigades (@AlqassamBrigade) has tweeted: “Israeli drones shelling media car that belongs to Al Aqsa TV in Gaza City, two media professionals killed.”
The United States has blocked a U.N. Security Council call for an immediate cease-fire in Israel’s weeklong offensive in Gaza against Hamas.
“The draft press statement failed to address the root cause of the current escalation — the continuing barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel,” the spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N., Erin Pelton, said in a statement.
“We made clear that we would measure any action by the Security Council based on whether it supported the ongoing diplomacy toward de-escalation of violence and a durable outcome that ends the rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns and restores a broader calm,” Pelton said. “By failing to call for the immediate and permanent halt to rocket launches from Gaza into Israel, this press statement failed to contribute constructively to those goals. As such, we could not agree to this statement, which was counter-productive and unacceptable.”
foxnews.com/world/2012/11/20/us-blocks-un-security-council-call-for-gaza-cease-fire-as-unbalanced-against/Security Council press statements require unanimous approval. The draft press statement was circulated by Morocco.
Wait… the US stopped it because it didn’t stop -enough- fighting? Am I reading that right?US blocks UN Security Council call for Gaza cease-fire as unbalanced against Israel
foxnews.com/world/2012/11/20/us-blocks-un-security-council-call-for-gaza-cease-fire-as-unbalanced-against/
It would be like demanding a ceasefire in 1939, but only on Poland.Wait… the US stopped it because it didn’t stop -enough- fighting? Am I reading that right?
The reason Hamas is outshining Fatah is because its not like Fatah’s method is giving them any results. The Palestinians still get their land taken away from them every day in the West Bank. Settlements mean Palestinians have less opportunity to move. You have Palestinians seperated from their families due to these checkpoints… Oh so they get the privilege of not being in as terrible situation as Gaza.Hamas Gains Favor in West Bank, at Palestinian Authority’s Expense
nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/middleeast/hamas-strengthens-as-palestinian-authority-weakens.html?ref=global-home
I suppose this was an inevitable result. I wondered if it might have entered into Hamas calculations: deliberately provoke Israel into attacking in order to outshine the Palestinian Authority. The PA is circulating a proposal at the UN which would grant it the status of non-member observer state. Widely expect to be approved by the General Assembly, achieving this status could be an important diplomatic tool and a feather in the cap for the Palestinian Authority and its leader Mahmoud Abbas.
But the conflict in Gaza is stealing the limelight and prestige from the PA. Israel, of course, is alarmed and angry on both fronts.
The media originally portrayed Arafat’s PLO as a terrorist organization. Then the political party of Fatah, the main constituent of the PLO, was described as the radical element of the PLO organization. After that, Fatah was considered more mainstream compared to the terrorist group called Hamas. Now, I heard a commentator say that Hamas is conservative compared to other fringe elements of the Muslim Brotherhood. I suppose there is a certain relative aspect to this classification, but it seems the definition of terrorism is changing for the worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by meltzerboy
Don’t forget the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
this is so true…
what people have to realise is that the media can make things disappear.take things away from the public eye…just because you don’t hear of anything about a particular subject doesn’t mean its passed on.its no longer in use…the media have a history of doing this…every thing is ok when it suites and hysterical on other things just the same…it called an agenda…im not trying to teach you all how to suck eggs.but really,does any body here know that hammas are still a terrorist organisation??
im not condoning what the Israelis have done,neither am i doing the same for Palestinians…
and that goes for Ireland aswell.