Once again proving that only Israel gets to violate a truce, the AP has returned to form. Here’s what the AP thinks constitutes a “straining” of the cease fire: Firing rockets into Israel.
An agreement between Hamas and Israel to bring quiet to the war-torn Gaza Strip could be announced within days, Hamas officials said, as rocket [sic] fired from the territory Friday further strained an informal cease-fire.
Two rockets fired by Gaza militants hit near a communal farm and the town of Sderot, the Israeli military said. No one was injured and no armed group took responsibility for the attack.
Rocket fire and shooting incidents along the Gaza-Israel border have persisted since the end of Israel’s devastating offensive against Hamas in the territory. Israel halted the operation on Jan. 18 and Hamas declared a cease-fire later the same day.
You see? Firing rockets doesn’t violate the cease fire. But wait for Israel’s response. That will constitute a violation, no doubt. Also, the AP boilerplate is now “Israel’s devastating offensive” or “devastating three-week offensive” in Gaza.
However, that’s not what bothers me the most. This is:
Late on Thursday, Hamas deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk told Egypt’s official MENA news agency that the Islamic militant group has agreed to an 18-month truce with Israel. He said it would be announced within two days after the group consults with other Palestinian factions, the news agency reported. Abu Marzouk said the deal calls for Israel to reopen its border crossings into Gaza, fulfilling Hamas’ central demand.
The border crossings have been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since Hamas violently seized power in the territory in June, 2007, defeating its rivals from the Fatah movement.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas spokesman in Cairo with the group’s truce delegation, said Friday he expects an agreement “within the coming three days.” He said progress had been made on a cease-fire, on a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and on reconstruction funds for Gaza.
“Many obstacles have been resolved, especially stopping all forms of aggression and the issue of the quality and kind of goods (entering Gaza) and the opening of the border,” Nunu said in a statement e-mailed to reporters in Gaza.
Granted, Hamas lies on a daily basis. But if Olmert concludes this deal on the eve of elections that signal Israelis don’t want to give concessions to a terrorist group, he will become so much more than a failed Prime Minister—he will become the man that flouted his nation’s will. If he opens the crossings without Gilad Shalit (or his body, because we have no evidence that he is still alive), then he will have truly sold Israel down the river. And for what? What will Israel achieve out of this truce? Yet another rearming of Hamas? More Grad rockets, so that the next time, Israel will be beset north and south by Iranian proxies? If Hamas gets the kind of weapons that Hezbollah has, the IAF will be far less effective.
In the event of a large-scale future war, the Israel Air Force will not be able to provide the same kind of close aerial support it gave ground troops during the recent operation in the Gaza Strip, military sources said recently.
IAF officials said various factors, such as the limited number of aircraft and the enemy’s increased capabilities, meant the force would likely not be able to repeat the largely successful model of cooperation with ground forces during Operation Cast Lead, on a broader scale, should the need arise.
“Hezbollah and the Syrian army are not Hamas,” a senior IAF officer said. “We cannot assume that things will be the same in a bigger war.”
Israel needs a new government, fast. And both Netanyahu and Livni should be publicly declaring that Olmert needs to cease negotiations immediately without including at least Bibi.