Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine
The Times of Israel, February 1, 2024 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-01-2024/
In The New York Times, January 31, 2024, you find mention of a “Biden Doctrine” aiming at a demilitarized Palestinian state, in the West Bank and Gaza. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/opinion/biden-iran-israel.html
Beyond wishful thinking, just about the only rational approach to what the Security Council of the United Nations termed “a durable cessation of hostilities”, in its December 22, 2023 Resolution 2720. (13 votes in favour, Russia & US abstaining).
Demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages (§7) and that all parties to the conflict comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, including with regard to the conduct of hostilities and the protection of civilians and civilian objects (§1), reiterating its unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders(§12) https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1145022
If we truly want a sustainable peace to last, the unending series of rockets and reactions, of attacks and counter-attacks, has to stop, permanently. We have checked the chronology : since the time Israel evacuated its 8,000 settlers in Gaza, it has been the continuous target of rockets from the Strip – first, elementary qassams, with a range of a few miles, to finally advanced Iranian models, with a range of dozens of miles, and warheads of 300 kg.
The crater of this rocket, launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in mid-November 2019, was 2 meters deep, with a diameter of 16 meters, as can be seen comparing with the size of the man in the hole.
On the whole, it is a clear timeline and equation, combining Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Military operations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It computes mathematically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
Since 2001, Palestinian militants have launched tens of thousands[1][2][3][4] of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip as part of the continuing Palestinian–Israeli conflict. The attacks, widely condemned for targeting civilians, have been described as terrorism by the United Nations, the European Union, and Israeli officials, and are defined as war crimes by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_operations_of_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict
Wikipedia is a fairly reliable and precise site on these matters. You can always double-check with other sites.
Considering the terrible gap in losses both sides, a radical change in strategy on the Palestinian side would make sense.
Leading to the rational prospect of demilitarization, the way it was done in Ireland and the Basque homeland.
We are just surprised at the silence of the Irish and Basque former chiefs of the armed organizations involved in terror.
Aren’t they in an ideal position to explain how you move from attacks and terror to negotiations and a farewell to arms?
February 2, 2024. News from Ireland. From giving up sectarian violence to winning the elections.
An Irish nationalist, member of the former political wing of the IRA, slated to become First Minister tomorrow, Mrs Michelle O’Neill. “This is a historic moment in time, it’s not lost on the wider public,” she said. “But it depends on what you do with it… Let’s get down to business. Let’s actually deliver, for the wider society out there.”
It’s been a quarter of a century since the 1998 peace agreement that ended all types of military action, and saw the IRA dump its arms. A referendum on a united Ireland still is a possibility, depending partly upon the evolution of demography between protestants and catholics, although the incoming First Minister hasn’t mentioned it.
Call it a historic shift, and see what happens next. Non-violently.
February 3, 2024. Bargaining with people’s lives.
The current talks about a cease-fire: The military quintette in Gaza would agree about a limited cessation of fire, until mid-March, and an exchange of prisoners in three parts. The big wigs in Doha and Turkey want more.
There’s dissent between those who bear the brunt of their suicidal October strategy and the happy few who live in style abroad. Disunity confirmed between the military wing on the ground & underground, and the political wing abroad.
Wall Street Journal reveals the real reason there’s no ceasefire yet
In yesterday’s Jerusalem Post, an analysis by Yaakov Katz worth reading too :
When the war in Gaza stops, the political war in Israel will begin
On both sides of the divide, the problem is with the pre-October 7 leaders :
– those who let it happen, who did not see it coming,
– those who conceived the onslaught, its scope, and gave full licence to kill, loot, maim, and rape.
February 4, 2024. Hostages detained in the damp dark : what are we waiting for ?
“Hamas infighting pushes off hostage deal”
“According to Arab intelligence sources, the stance of Hamas in Gaza differs from that of the movement’s leadership abroad. Surprisingly, the Gaza leadership is willing to engage in such a deal even without international guarantees for a complete ceasefire and without Israeli withdrawal.”
Avi Issacharoff, one of the all-time best observers, on January 30, 2024. For Ynet News. Confirming emerging internal divisions within the leadership of Hamas, creating almost visible cracks that are expected to widen in the coming weeks if the terror group maintains its resistance to a deal.
The prospect is a month-and-a-half ceasefire, expected to extend to weeks, possibly months, after mid-March, assuming that the ceasefire could start by the end of this week, around February 8 or 9. The whole process could drag on though :
more and more tunnels are being exposed as the IDF records tactical achievements in underground combat. This effort will continue in the coming weeks and is expected to create even greater pressure on senior Hamas figures to agree to a deal mediated by the Qataris and Egyptians.
February 5, 2024. 3 a.m. “Returning to routine is out of the question – in no way”.
Clara Marman, kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, released on November 28.
“I cannot go back to normal because I am in a fight until the end”
Clara’s brother, and her companion, are still held incommunicado somewhere underground in Gaza. Along with some 130 hostages – around 30 of them are believed to be dead. Whichever way you think about this, kidnapping civilians is not resistance.
Rape is not resistance. The strategists of October 7 have, indeed, severely corrupted the Palestinian cause. As testified by former Egyptian MP Tawfik Okasha. (see below)
A parallel between Ireland, the United Kingdom, Israel and Palestine :
Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill makes history as 1st nationalist to lead Northern Ireland
“This is a historic day that represents a new dawn,” O’Neill said. “That such a day would ever come would have been unimaginable to my parents’ and grandparents’ generations. Because of the Good Friday Agreement, that old state that they were born into is gone.”
Former Egyptian MP Okasha, about Hamas :
“I mourn for every death on the Israeli side and every death on the Palestinian side, but I do not mourn Hamas personnel that have been killed because they are a terror organization that has profited from the Palestinian issue. They are an organization that turned Egypt into a no man’s land, and its hands are covered in the blood of Egypt. I will not forget it.”
“Hamas corrupted the Palestinian cause as well as led to the loss of opportunities of reaching a two-state solution because of their uprising against the PA in 2007.
“They orchestrated an attack on Israel on October 7 and used the same tactics and tools as ISIS and al-Qaeda,”
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-785216
February 6, 2024. The in-depth dimension of the confrontation.
Few people in the rich Northern hemisphere know where Yemen exactly is.
A number of people have heard that Yemeni Houthis have hit commercial vessels heading for the Suez canal. Arguing that they were thus targeting Israel and its allies. The consequence being that hundreds of such Northbound ships have had to navigate around the Southern tip of Africa to reach Europe, leading to a sharp rise in transportation fees.
More recently, we have heard about ballistic missiles launched at Israel from Yemen.
“Arrow intercepts missile in red Sea headed for Eilat”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-784928
Eilat, even my garage mechanic knows where that is, due to the Club Med where he spent holidays scuba-diving, long ago. Eilat being 1840 km from Sanaa, as the crow flies, it makes you wonder what the hell the devil’s equation may be between Houthis, Israelis and all the others involved (especially when you learn that the US and the UK have sent planes to bomb Houthi sites).
You then look at the Houthi flag in Yemen, check out for the translation, and you go : Huh-huh… there we go again. Déjà vu, all over. Allahu Akbar. God’s the Greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse the Jews. Victory to Islam.
Not so subtle, especially the “Curse the Jews” line, but at least explicit.
It’s the-Jews, all over again, isn’t it ? Goebbels’s got to be laughing out loud in his non-grave, the Biederitz river, having the time of his death…
February 7, 2024. Probably the most important testimony since October 7, 2023.
Yahyah Mahamid, YNet News, February 3, 2024
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjoltmh56
February 8, 2024. Growing weariness.
We all get wearier, by the days. But the hostages, and the thousands of displaced people under tents or in temporary structures, in South Gaza and in Israel, are incomparably wearier than us. With those who expect their homecoming.
Why do the academics and so many Nobel laureates keep so silent ?
February 9, 2024. The feeling of betrayal.
Reading Jonathan’s October message again, from East Negev, stating “The people who lost their lives have been betrayed.”
Thinking of Hayim Katsman, the philosopher-musician, who was murdered in Kholit, the Southernmost, closest to Gaza kibbutz. Like Vivian Silver, Haim Peri, he was one of the volunteers who would drive sick Gazans to the best hospitals in Israel, and back.
February 10, 2024. Going against the flow.
“going against the flow and forging a new path usually comes at a price”
Yahya Mahamid again. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ry0kwr6ka#autoplay
February 11, 2024. Into Gaza.
“… utter devastation. It’s a huge destruction, of almost biblical proportions.” Avi Issacharoff, YNet News
“Welcome to the grinder: How IDF is burrowing deeper into Khan Younis” February 10, 2024
February 12, 2024. The damage done.
East or West, the damage done since October 7 is dizzying. People are afraid – of facing the facts of October 7, their ethnical, cultural context, and the consequences. “the October 7 massacre is the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century”.
Le massacre du 7 octobre est le plus grand massacre antisémite du 21e siècle. Le contester est une faute. Sembler le justifier, en y mêlant le nom des Nations Unies, est une honte.
Ces propos sont d’autant plus scandaleux que la lutte contre l’antisémitisme et toutes les formes de racisme sont au cœur de la fondation de l’ONU.
February 13, 2024. A clear and loud statement from France.
From the French president to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, facing denial by a U.N. spokesperson :
“The October 7 massacre is the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. To contest it is a fault. To seem to justify it, involving the name of the United Nations, is a shame.
These declarations are all the more outrageous that the struggle against antisemitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the foundation of the United Nations.”
February 14, 2024. Captives and fugitives in a rat-trap.
Images keep coming up from the darkness of the Gaza tunnels.
The man in flip-flops, and pajamas, is supposed to be the leader of the military quintette, fleeing in one of the tunnels, with his wife, his brother, and three kids.
They speak of psychological warfare, of belittling the man, in his colleagues’ eyes, in Gazans’ eyes, and in his own eyes.
Getting closer to “The End” ?
No progress whatsoever in the talks about the release of hostages.
We have entered another warped dimension of time yet.
No news of the captives – but one and a half million people in Gaza are captives as well, and what will they come home to, “in the end” ?
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