I was going to use my usual template for the Hamas ceasefire offer that got floated last week: three excitable MSM stories about how Hamas will pretend to be less genocidal for a while, following by a quote from a Hamas minister “clarifying” said willingness. But I’ve been busy grading finals and speeches so I didn’t have time to get to it. And wouldn’t you know it, too late:
The three shells that hit the Negev marked a recent upsurge in border violence after a two-week lull. The shells exploded in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, causing neither casualties nor damage. The attack came one day after the New York Times published an interview with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal, whose Islamist group controls Gaza, in which he said gunmen in the coastal strip had unilaterally ceased cross border attacks.
Well they’ve got to do something with that gigantic new arsenal they’re smuggling into Gaza in preparation for the next war that they’re ostensibly not going to fight:
A report by the Institute for National Security Studies asserted that Hamas’s military, despite sustaining its harshest blow, was not crippled by Israel during the 22-day war in January 2008. The report said hundreds of Hamas soldiers have gone to Iran, Lebanon and Syria for advanced training in light arms, explosives and other military skills. “It cannot be ruled out that the next round of warfare is closer than ever,”
In other news, does anyone have an update on Obama’s ongoing efforts to do an end-run around his campaign promise not to engage or fund Hamas? I thought he’d have the deal closed by March, but apparently the “unity government” pretext that State was going to use fell through.
The last time I checked, liberal foreign policy experts were insisting that “Obama deserves credit for bravery in putting forth a plan which will inevitably be portrayed as benefiting Hamas.” I only mention that because “inevitably be portrayed” is a really terrific phrase. It’s more subtle than Samantha Power’s smirking reference to “a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import,” but it still manages to remind sophisticated readers whose side they’re supposed to be on. Elegant.
Anyway, Hamas on Obama: we really like his “new language.”
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* Hamas Slowly Realizing They Got Dismantled (Plus: Western Academics, Hamas Fans Still Reveling In Glorious Victory!) [MR]
* Meshal: Hamas seeks Palestinian state based on 1967 borders [Ha'aretz]
* IDF bombs three Gaza tunnels, after militants fire shells at Negev [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas smuggling new arsenal into Gaza [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas Ready For Another War Soon [Middle East Newsline]
* White House Pushing Palestinian Unity Government, Says It Will Let Them Fund Hamas [MR]
* Hillary: Hey, You Know Who’s Really Responsible For Gaza Instability? Israel. [MR]
* PrintSend to a friend MIDEAST: Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation Looking Distant [IPS News]
* The Obama administration’s end run around Hamas restrictions [FP Passport]
* Samantha “We Should Invade Israel” Power Appointed To NSC [MR]
* Hamas leader welcomes Obama’s "new language" – report [Reuters]
Previously:
* Mere Rhetoric: Hamas Blowing Out The Kneecaps Of Fatah-Linked Gaza Civilians, Executing Dozens
* Top Obama Adviser Carries Obama Foreign Policy To Logical Conclusion – Meets With Hamas And Then Resigns So It Won’t Be A "Distraction"
* Carter "Understands" Why Hamas Has To Bomb Israeli Schools And Hospitals
