UN decision - Gaza - Jan 9, 2009

Ann wrote:


During the night the UN Security Council, in a unanimous vote (the US abstained, but dear Condoleeza says the US suports the decision) called for a ceasefire in Gaza, the opening of all crossing points, and unimpeded "humanitarian access" to Gaza. Israel is mentioned by name as a combatant; the word "Hamas" does not appear anywhere. Do you see where this is going?

The resolution does not specify who is going to supervise the ceasefire, when it will go into effect or how long it will last. It does not specify who is going to ensure that the ceasefire isn't used to rearm the "militant combatants" inside of Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly said it will be happy to quit the war in Gaza as soon as viable arrangements are made to ensure that (1) the smuggling tunnels are closed, (2) the crossing points are regulated to prevent smuggling (of people, arms, drugs, money, humans, etc.), and (3) Hamas agrees to stop the launching of rockets at Israel. The Israeli public overwhelmingly insists that any agreement also include the return of our kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, but I am not so sure that when push comes to shove the government will insist on this, unfortunately. I haven't heard his name mentioned recently.

So far Hamas has rejected each and every suggestion of coming to some sort of agreement. They have refused to attend a conference between Arab heads of states to try and work out a ceasefire agreement. They have vowed never to surrender, and to continue attacking the "Zionist Enemy" whenever, wherever and however possible until Israel no longer exists. It should be noted that the "when / where / how" includes Israeli, Jewish and "western" targets all over the world. "Western" refers to anything European, American and non-Moslem.

The question before Israel now is whether to back off a bit or to intensify the fighting over the weekend in order to achieve as much as possible before the UN sits again on Monday. It has been our experience that with the exception of the decision back in 1947 to create a Jewish State, not a single UN resolution has been in Israel's favor over the past 60 years. And Israel was severely condemned two years ago for responding to the Hisballah attack upon us. Israel has made several appeals to the UN in the past 8 years to condemn the rocketfire on civilian targets in Israel. Since each and every appeal has been rejected by the UN, we are not holding out much hope that this time will be any different.

And after all the cries to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza, Israel decided this week to suspend fighting each day from 1 pm to 4 pm so that the humanitarian supplies could be brought in. Yesterday, only the second day of the humanitarian ceasefire, the UN declared that it would no longer bring in any more humanitarian supplies. Each convoy is coordinated with the Israeli army, but Israel does not actually bring the supplies into the Gaza Strip itself, or accompany the vehicles. This is up to the UN and the Palestinians. Yesterday the driver of one of the trucks was killed by sniper fire. The brother (friend?) of the driver claims that the driver was killed by an Israeli soldier. The IDF is investigating, but it is highly unlikely that one of our soldiers would have done this. The snipers especially are very carefully screened so that you don't get someone who would let personal feelings get in the way of his assignment.

In the north things have been quiet since the three rockets were fired yesterday, but the army and emergency services remain on high alert and all public bomb shelters have been opened.

A