It is only proper that UNSCR 1860 and Mahmoud Abbas would vanish into nothingness on the same day: UNSCR 1860 was rejected by both Israel and Hamas, and Abbas’ term as President of the Palestinan Authority expired today.
This is all good news, really. Now that these irrelevancies have been set aside the clock will be ticking louder and louder for the Israeli war on Gaza and each passing day with strengthen Hamas.
On the ground the situation is still way to early to call, but the fact that Hamas stood its ground for two weeks is, I think, rather encouraging.
The Israeli Air Force and Navy has run out of meaningful targets a long while ago already so its sole purpose will now be to terrorize Palestinian civilians as much as can be, hence the repeated attacks on UN positions. The Israeli ground forces have done the easy job exactly as predicted: the Gaza Strip has been cut into several sections. While the Israelis present that as a meaningful goal, all this really achieves is lengthening the frontlines inside Gaza. So far, the Israelis have clearly been unable to enter, much less so take control, of any urban center.
I would say that Hamas fighters have, so far, done better than I would have expected and this is also an ecouraging sign.
Bottom line: the Israelis have run out of political options now and they will now have to do what they clearly were hoping to avoid: get down to the ugly business of trying to fight the Palestinian resistance.
I agree with your assessment of the military situation.
What is interesting is the global outpouring of anger against Israel, even in Europe and North America.
The patient and persistent organizing of the Palestinian diaspora has created another front against Israel: international public opinion.
Across every continent, mass protests have occurred against Israel.
These are the first step towards a sanctions regime against the Zionist state.
If Hamas can keep the fight alive on the ground, and if Israel continues the deliberate policy of human slaughter, we will see even greater protests.
Tomorrow’s in London will be huge and militant, I imagine.
Yesterday’s in Oslo was very impressive.
And demos and direct action civil disobedience are taking place across cities in North America.
And protests are still breaking out in Egypt and Amman — not a good sign for the regimes.
@anonymous: yep, I am very slowly and gradually becoming a little more optimistic. The amazing thing is that there is practically no solid info on what is happening on the ground in Gaza. I am not talking about the traditional Israeli butchery of civilians, there are plenty of reports about that thanks to the really excellent work of al-Jazeera’s crew in Gaza. No I am talking about the *real* fighting which clearly seems to have been going on for a while already (I would love to get the radio intercepts of what is really happening now…)
Again, the fact that the Israelis are moving so slowly should caution against any optimism at this stage, but I can’t help getting a sense that the Ezzedine al-Qassam folks are doing much better than expected.
We should get a clearer picture in a week or so.
I agree about the media coverage.
There is no information about the actual fighting, and IDF media censorship is in high gear. It is obvious that Haarez and YNET are being systematically muzzled.
Debka ran another story, saying that the IDF is almost ready to enter Jabalyia, but I’m not sure if the story is fact or fiction.
Last week, Debka claimed that the ground invasion was very limited.
However, Hamas has released footage of a sniper attack on an Israeli tank operator, and a bombing attack on a building occupied by Israeli troops.
At the same time, Hamas has not been making exaggerated claims about enemy kills.
My hunch is that the IDF has moved into the Strip and fought some real battles on the urban fringes.
They’ve divided the Strip into segments, and deliberately shelled civilian areas, but haven’t tried to enter the major urban centers.
They want to avoid a street-to-street urban war if at all possible and have been trying to force a surrender by shelling and bombing civilians and civilian support systems.
Yet clearly, Hamas has not been defeated militarily. Rockets and mortars continue to be fired, and everyday the IDF is quietly reported injuries and one or two fatalities.
As you say, time will tell.
I am more optimistic right now, especially with the steadfastness in Gaza and the outpouring of anger around the world.
Never before has Palestine been a central issue in demonstrations, especially in the Euro-North American context. Now it is, and that’s an important change.
Agree with both of you. We can only try to guess at what’s going on as regards the actual fighting, but the mere fact that the Israelis have held off on launching “Stage 3” (whatever that means, and that rockets are still being fired into Israel after 13 days, does suggest that this campaign is not achieving even the most modest of its stated aims.
I also agree that Israel is losing out BIG time on the PR front. Of course you could say that the same happened in 2006, but I don’t think the revulsion against Israel was quite so bad then. Literally every day the UN – not Palestinian sources – is coming out with another story of war crimes by the IDF. It seems to me that people the world over are sick of it. I’ve been spending a good proportion of my time these past 2 weeks commenting on, and reading, the various blogs and comemnt sections dealing with the war, and it is clear that the GIYUS gang are becoming ever more conspicuous by their absence. Even UNWRA’s John GIng, who had scrupulously aimed to maintain neutrality until now, came out firmly against Israel yesterday. So if this can be the beginning of the end for the international legitimacy of the Zionist project, maybe something good can come of this hideous war.
I would also like to say that Al J English have been doing a superb job. If it wasn’t for them, I’d have to hold my nose and watch BBC and CNN try to be ‘balanced’ by making sure they devote equal time to ‘shocked’ people in Sderot, as to the hundreds of dead and wounded in Gaza.
Have you’ll watched PressTV live broadcast from Gaza? PressTV
Saker, what do you think about this? I guess you can quite understand writen Portuguese:
“ONU: Israel abriga palestinos em casa e depois atira contra ela
JERUSALÉM (Reuters) – Trinta palestinos foram mortos nesta semana, segundo a Organização das Nações Unidas, depois de serem abrigados pelo Exército israelense em uma casa posteriormente atacada com um tanque.
Um relatório do Escritório do Coordenador de Assuntos Humanitários da ONU (Ocha) disse que, no dia 4 de janeiro, soldados israelenses levaram 110 palestinos para uma casa na área de Zeitoun, no centro de Gaza, dizendo a eles para não saírem dali.
Citando testemunhas, o relatório disse que, depois, a casa foi atingida por bombas, que mataram 30pessoas.
O Exército israelense disse que está investigando o incidente.
Médicos palestinos disseram que, no dia 5 de janeiro, receberam 12 corpos de uma mesma família numa casa atingida pela artilharia israelense. Segundo eles, o número total de mortos subiu para 30, já que mais corpos foram retirados dos escombros.
Eles identificaram a maioria dos mortos como membros de uma família de sobrenome Samouni.
A Ocha disse que, entre os mortos, há três crianças feridas que não resistiram.
(Por Joseph Nasr)”
http://br.noticias.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090109/mundo/mundo_ormed_israel_casa