Hamas Rejects Cease-Fire With Israel in Gaza

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soundtracks of AL 6:42AM July 17, 2009

I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!

soma delivered to az of WV 8:22AM July 04, 2009

If Hamas and others laid down their arms tomorrow and acepted Israel right to exist,,,there would be peace...no more Palestinians would die. They would recieve world aid to rebuild and flouish. If Israel laid it's arms down today, they would be attacked by Hamas and everyone else in the region. History shows the muslim countries would then fight between themselves like they have for centuries.

tracy of TX 12:38PM January 14, 2009

Dr. Shade,

Where is Israel justified? Because the Iranians supposively told Hamas to say "No?" Hamas has made it terms clear for a ceasefire. Israeli troops out. Lift the seige of Gaza. Is that so bad? Iran genocidal? How many Israelis has Iran killed? How many Israelis have been killed by Hizbollah and Hamas? How many Palestinians and Lebanese have been killed by Israel? While Israel was justified in doing something, it was not justified in doing anything.

Frederick Marsh of VA 8:11PM January 13, 2009

It was about time, and a good path to become a real journalist.

Congrats!

As for John's comments... Don't bother replying.

Pipe bombs, AIPAC, 51st state, politically motivated, all the key words. There is an abundance of useful idiots in this world.

Poor Palestinians, the day they wake up and realized who has been the true raper, they will feel stupid and guilty. We'll be here to forgive them.

Ruben Misrahi of OH 4:41PM January 13, 2009

Lauren of VA, are you a left-over hippie? Because a lot of what you are proposing sounds like conspiracy theories to me and not real facts. Israel has been experimenting with autonomy in regions like Gaza and the West Bank. However, Israel will not stand and shouldn't be expected to give sovereignty to a people who have shown hostility towards her. That is just stupid. As for the West Bank, good luck telling the Israelis that they are going to have to give up Jerusalem. The time for the two-state has ended. Many of the Israelis in Israel have most likely been born there and are not going to leave. If Palestinians want to have peace, they need to create a government that will be more peaceful towards Israel and stop doing deals with Iran under-the-table.

Dr. Shade of NC 6:38PM January 12, 2009

Human kind must find enlightenment. Where this enlightenment will come from I do not yet know. Look at the past 100 years. How much has been wasted and destroyed because of wars around the world. All the lost lives, the pain and suffering. The lost possibilities of where humanity would be if not for war. It is time for all wars to stop. Without a change of course the human race can not survive.

Joe L of NY 6:30PM January 12, 2009

Israel wants to keep the West Bank and the Golan Heights at any cost. Its strategic objective is to destroy the "two state solution" by destroying Gaza and Hamas. Here is the logic:

1. Divide and rule has been the ultimate mantra of imperialists and occupation (e.g. recent creating instability by pitting sunnis against shias, creating rift between Fatah and Hamas)

2. By destroying Gaza's infrastructure and puting it back by 20 to 50 years, killing its top leaders, Israel wants to break the morale of the Palestinians in Gaza.

3. Israel has alredy strated an extensive mis-information campaign the Gaza should be ruled by Egypt; the West Bank Palestinians should be accomodated in Jordan and Syria. Israel's agents in the US including top congressmen and senators in their "payroll" are already floating this idea, including sessions scheduled in the Press Club to spread this message.

4. Is Isreal wanted peace it would have kept the terms of the cease fire that lasted six months wihout a single rocket being fired, however, Israel purposefully did not keep its end of the agreement to open up the Gasa border to import and export. In other words it staved it to desparation while secretly preparing for this onslaught on Gaza.

5. Israel timed this opportunity to act between one US president leaving and another coming in on purpose. The purpose is to get the right wing support while George Bush is president, and start the misinformation campaign to stop Obama from changing the 50 years of successful Israeli manipulation of US Foreign Policy to meet its goal of continued occupation.

Will this work? I think not? Only time will tell!

Lauren of VA 6:17PM January 12, 2009

Israel will hopefully be vindicated by the actions of Iran and Hamas. If Hamas follows Iran's advice, then the world should wake up and realize, "Hey. Maybe we've been rooting for the wrong side." If the Palesitinis really wanted to have peace, they would not be doing business with Iran, who is clearly genocidal, and would be turning over Hamas operatives left and right. However, I am not going to hold my breathe on this because I could turn blue and die.

Dr. Shade of NC 6:14PM January 12, 2009

To Dorfy of SC:

Removing Hamas from ruling Gaza is not a topic in the ceasefire talks, and your suggestion that it is proves that you are reading only reports biased towards Hamas and against Israel.

As for the Iranian connection, it is very clear to anyone paying attention that Iran is trying to be the primary regional power in the Middle East, as was Egypt before 1967. However, counter to Egypt's methods, Iran prefers to wage war via proxies in order to avoid clearly direct involvement. These two proxies are Hezbollah and Hamas.

The case for Hezbollah is very clear, as Iran considers Hezbollah to be an extended part of its military. The case for Hamas, however, is more complicated. What I mean by this is that Hamas makes its own decisions, but highly considers Iran's comments because the two share a common goal (destruction of Israel) and Iran provides weaponry to Hamas.

As to the comment that "if [the Iranians] were arming Hamas, Gaza would have something a bit more sophisticated than pipe bombs": Katushya rockets, Qassam rockets, and Grad rockets are clearly more sophisticated than a pipe bomb or simple mortar. Further, not even a year or two ago, the longer range missiles were not being fired from Gaza but only from Lebanon (courtesy of Hezbollah). What this makes very clear is that arms smuggling into Gaza was not prevented and the weapons that were initially only used by Hezbollah on behalf of Iran "magically" made their way into the hands of Hamas in Gaza.

As for the rest of your comments, it is clear that "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"* is undoubtedly one of your favorite books.

*For those of you reading this and have never heard of it, search Wikipedia. The basics: it is an antisemitic forgery that alleges that there is a Jewish plot for world domination.

of AZ 3:57PM January 12, 2009

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Mideast Watch highlights notable stories and commentary from the Israeli and Arab press. Larry Derfner covers Israel for U.S. News and World Report and is a columnist and feature writer for the Jerusalem Post.

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