Hamas: You Know What? Starting Friday We're Not Even Going To Pretend There's A Ceasefire.
Constant barrages since last Monday, spanning from the middle of the week to the end of the week to overnight. But despite Israel's best efforts...
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has offered Hamas a continued cease-fire along the border with Gaza. Maj.-Gen. Amos Gilad was to bring the offer to talks in Cairo Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported. One of Barak's demands was for an end to the firing of rockets into Israel. The cease-fire, begun six months ago, expires Friday. In the past month, more than 200 mortars and rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza.
... Hamas seems uninterested in continuing the current ceasefire farce:
The six-month cease-fire... between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas comes to an end on Friday... The assumption in Jerusalem is that while Hamas will seek to extend the cease-fire, the Islamic organization will try to alter the terms of the agreement to allow it to continue firing rockets and mortars... at will. Israeli defense officials expect Hamas to increase the number of provocative attacks against Israeli targets, in an attempt to force Israel to accept worsened cease-fire conditions... There were three days of quiet on the Israel-Gaza border last week, presumably because of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. The moment the festival ended... the rocket attacks resumed.
Whatever. It was already clear that Hamas wasn't going to accept the status quo. And why should they? They're about to take over the Palestinian Authority and gain international recognition. Europeans have been comparing them favorably to Israel's next Prime Minister. US diplomats are leaning heavily on Israel not to undertake a Gaza operation. And in the meantime they've got hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians within their range and they're firing nearly daily barrages - and Israel and Fatah are floating them financially:
NIS 100 million in cash was transferred to Gaza banks Thursday to enable salaries to be paid to Palestinian Authority employees in the Strip. But PA officials in Ramallah admitted there is no guarantee that some of the money did not find its way to Hamas. The delivery was approved by Israel at the PA's request. Hamas, which controls the Strip, provided security for the armored trucks carrying the money... in private conversations, senior PA officials - including PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad - admitted that there is no way to check whether the entire sum really reached the employees for whom it was earmarked. Some of the banks' branch managers and tellers cooperate with Hamas, they explained, and could easily have diverted some of the money to the organization.
Naturally. Plus no matter what happens Israel will get blamed for Palestinian intransigence anyway. So continued rocket fire it is. And sure Israel occasionally targets the Qassam cells but - even among the family members of Hamas soldiers - the reactions to Israeli self-defense tend to be ambiguous:
It's Hamas's own propaganda that makes it clear that - to them - one martyr is indistinguishable from the next.
References:
* Another Day Another Palestinian Rocket Barrage. New Rockets Bring Hundreds Of Thousands Of Israelis Within Range. [MR]
* Mortar shell lands near Nahal Oz; no casualties or damage [JPost]
* Two Kassam rockets hit western Negev; none wounded [JPost]
* Palestinians fire mortar shell at western Negev; no wounded [JPost]
* Barak offers Hamas another cease-fire [UPI]
* Israel expects tensions along Gaza border as truce nears end [Ha'aretz]
* Livni: Hey, I Guess These Daily Rocket Attacks Aren't Much Of A Ceasefire After All [MR]
* Gaza groups reportedly will not renew ceasefire with Israel [JPost]
* Hamas Closer Than Ever To Political Takeover Of West Bank, Palestinian Authority [MR]
* Swedish FM likens Netanyahu to Hamas [JPost]
* US Warns Israel Against Pre-Obama Attacks On Iran Or Hamas [MR]
* Evil Israeli Apartheid Regime Responds To Another Day Of Rockets By Sending Money Into Gaza [MR]
* PA officials: Hamas may have got hold of cash Israel transferred to Gaza [Ha'aretz]
* Abbas: Israeli Political Instability Is Responsible For Utter Refusal Of Palestinians To Ever Accept Jewish State. Or Something. [MR]
* Hamas Copy and Paste [Israellycool]
Previously:
* New Data Confirms Old Data: Blaming Israel For Gaza's Medical Collapse Is A Vicious Lie
* Israel Foils Massive Impending Attack, Hamas Responds With Massive Missile Attack - It's A Cycle Of Violence!
* Iran: Why Won't The Zionists Let Us Deliver This Totally Harmless Shipment To Hamas?
