Will the world stand with Israel on disarming Gaza? US Secretary of State Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of US State Department.
The war between Israel and Hamas was clearly won by Israel—thousands of Gaza terror targets were hit and dozens of terror tunnels leading into Israel worth millions of dollars were destroyed. But in the aftermath diplomacy, it appears that Hamas is the big winner.
According to the Deputy secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who spoke to the Ma’an News Agency, the Israeli demand that the Gaza terrorists be disarmed has been dismissed for now thanks to Egypt. What’s more, most of Hamas’ major demands are at least seeing the light of day.
Ziad al-Nakhaala was quoted by Ma’an as saying that breakthroughs had been reached in the ceasefire negotiations with Israel, with a deal to be coming soon. The details in this one sound like a Hamas wish list.
Reportedly, Israel has agreed to relax the entries to Gaza, as well as the buffer zones around the edge of Gaza at land and at sea. The Israelis had previously maintained those restrictions as part of their efforts to prevent terror attacks and smuggling.
Furthermore, the demand by the Palestinians to rebuild their airport and seaport is being put aside, but only temporarily, with Israel agreeing to discuss generic viagra ingredients those in the near future.
In many ways, it’s unclear what Israel gets out of all these concessions, despite the fact that they were attacked first and they won the physical fighting on the ground.
However, the West, including the US, Europe and the United Nations, have reportedly been pressuring the Israelis towards a cessation of fighting, and one has to wonder if that pressure is the momentum behind the Hamas diplomatic victories.
It’s ironic that the US was viewed in the media as pressuring Israel to reach a deal with Hamas, since technically they still don’t talk with Hamas themselves. Spokesperson Marie Harf, in comments released by the US State Department, said on Wednesday, “we do not and will not talk with them.”
Furthermore, US Secretary of State John Kerry had previously been quoted as opposing giving Hamas a reward for terrorism.
However, the public concerns expressed by the US about Israel’s approach to the war, including more from Harf on Thursday, sent a different message—a message pressuring Israel to stop.
And so Israel did, and now Hamas is reaping the benefits of that ceasefire. It remains to be seen what the final deal will be, but so far it’s been win after win for Hamas. And that’s mostly due to countries technically allied with Israel.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 14, 2014)