Palestinians Threatening To Abrogate Oslo Accords and Other Arrangements With Israel

The Palestinians, particularly Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas, is once again threatening to abrogate the Oslo Accords and the successor security arragements made with Israel so as to curry favor with Hamas as Fatah and Hamas try to reconcile their longstanding differences.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, member of the Fatah Central Committee and one of the Palestinian Authority negotiators with Israel, was quoted Sunday as saying that the Palestinians may cancel the agreements signed between the PLO and Israel.

Meanwhile, some PLO and Fatah leaders have privately criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for agreeing to incorporate Hamas into the PLO.

At least three senior officials in Ramallah have voiced strong reservations over the decision, a Fatah official told The Jerusalem Post. He said that those who were opposed to the move were worried that Hamas would replace Fatah as the dominant party in the PLO.

One official was quoted as saying that Abbas was paving the way for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to take control not only over the PLO, but the entire West Bank as well.

Shtayyeh's comments were published by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.

This was not the first time that a senior PA official had talked about the possibility of abrogating the Oslo Accords.

The comments came less than 48 hours after Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed to join a temporary leadership of the PLO that would prepare for new elections for the organization's two key bodies - the Palestine National Council and Executive Committee.

In response to a question about Israeli settlements, Shtayyeh said: "If Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists that there is no difference between the settlement of Abu Ghneim [Har Homa] and Tel Aviv, we won't distinguish between Ramallah and Jaffa."

The Palestinian Authority hasn't held elections since 2005, when Hamas and Fatah split the vote and ending up fighting a civil war that left Hamas in full control over Gaza while Fatah maintained civil administrative control over the West Bank. The Palestinians continue their attempts to revise history by claiming that Oslo didn't recognize Palestinian rights to territories, but they continue to avoid recognizing Israel's rights to territories, including historic claims to Jerusalem that extend back hundreds and thousands of years.

Hamas is not ruling out running in elections that may be held in 2012. They think that they might win in a landslide. That may be wishful thinking on their part considering that Hamas has shown an inability to do anything other than carry out attacks against Israel and find reason to blame Israel for all that ails the Palestinians. It can't do anything constructive. While Fatah remains open to concerns about corruption, Palestinians living in areas controlled by Fatah are able to move about more freely and have far more economic opportunities than those in Gaza. It doesn't seem likely that people living in the West Bank would consider voting for Hamas, unless they're looking for a more violent confrontation with Israel and an end to the peace process.

Yet, Hamas must think that they've got support to make such claims. Indeed, looking back at the 2006 election results, and one sees that Fatah maintained support only in a few select West Bank cities, while Hamas generated support elsewhere. That dynamic isn't likely to change even though the economic situation is worse now in Gaza than before the elections.

Despite the worsened economic conditions, Hamas wears that with a badge of pride - all in the cause of fighting Israel's existence and undermining Israel's right to exist at every opportunity. They portray the fight and the lack of economic opportunity as sacrifices that must be made in the fight against the Zionists.

Hamas celebrates a 3-year anniversary since the start of Operation Cast Lead, when Israel went after the Palestinian terror group after hundreds of rockets and mortars slammed into Israeli cities and towns. They refer to Israeli war crimes and genocide, even though by Hamas' own admission the vast majority of those killed were Hamas terrorists. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of civilians killed were not purposefully attacked by Israel, but were rather used by Hamas as human shields so as to inflate the body count and inflame Palestinian passions against Israel. At the same time, Palestinians look the other way as those Hamas rocket and mortar attacks were themselves war crimes as they purposefully targeted civilians so as to maximize the body count. To Hamas, there are no Israeli civilians - all are worthy targets.

Better Late Than Never; Goldstone Retracts Claims Israel Targeted Gazans

It's better late than never, but the UN's Richard Goldstone retracted the central thesis of his report from Operation Cast Lead - namely that Israel targeted Gazan civilians.

Richard Goldstone, an esteemed South African jurist who led the panel of experts that spent months examining the Gaza war, wrote in an opinion article in The Washington Post that Israeli investigations into the conflict “indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.”

“If I had known then what I know now,” he wrote, “the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

His article, which was posted on The Post’s Web site on Friday night, follows a report submitted two weeks ago by a committee of independent experts led by Mary McGowan Davis, a former New York judge, that said that Hamas had not conducted any internal investigations of its own but that Israel had devoted considerable resources in looking into more than 400 accusations of misconduct.

Mr. Goldstone’s article fell like a bomb in Israel, where many people considered the 2009 publication of the Goldstone report as one of the most harmful events in recent years. It was viewed as offering spurious justification for damaging accusations, which Israelis considered to be part of a campaign to delegitimize the state and label it as a war criminal.

“We face three major strategic challenges,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last year, “the Iranian nuclear program, rockets aimed at our citizens and Goldstone.”

On Saturday night, Mr. Netanyahu called on the United Nations to retract the entire Goldstone report. “Everything we said has proven to be true,” he said. “Israel did not intentionally harm civilians. Its institutions and investigative bodies are worthy, while Hamas intentionally fired upon innocent civilians and did not examine anything.”

“The fact that Goldstone backtracked,” Mr. Netanyahu added, “must lead to the shelving of this report once and for all.” The Goldstone report documented numerous examples of the mistreatment of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers, and he did not back away from those findings in his article in The Washington Post.

Efforts to reach Mr. Goldstone by telephone and e-mail on Saturday were unsuccessful. Farhan Haq, a deputy spokesman for the United Nations, said it was up to member nations to decide whether to re-evaluate the report.

Never mind that Goldstone's claims were easily rebutted by the factual evidence within hours of those incidents, but Goldstone put politics ahead of the facts and that adversely affected Israel and its ability to defend itself from ongoing terror attacks emanating from Gaza.

Hamas used human shields and purposefully fought from civilian areas in order to attack Israel. Those civilians killed in the fighting are the result of actions by Hamas, not Israel. Goldstone claimed that Israel purposefully targeted civilians, which was simply false.

Months after the fighting ended, even Hamas officials conceded that the overwhelming majority of those killed in the fighting were terrorists.

And Israel carried out military judicial proceedings against some of its soldiers for actions as varied as possibly misreading drone imagery to authorize an airstrike that killed 29 members of a family and the extrajudicial shooting of civilians.

The retraction comes as a backdrop to renewed terror attacks from Gaza - dozens of rockets and mortars fired at Israel and Israel redoubling efforts to go after terrorists in Gaza. Hamas is once again threatening massive reprisals for Israel defending itself - from Hamas terror attacks.

British Anti Semitism Watch

The British government continues its lawfare against Israel and Israeli officials who may happen to venture into the country.

Lawyers working with Palestinian activists are increasingly targeting senior Israeli civilian and military figures by seeking their arrest in Britain under the principle of "universal jurisdiction." This holds that alleged war criminals can be nabbed and charged anywhere, not just in a country directly involved in the crime.

Their latest target is Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister and current opposition leader, for her role during the bloody Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

She canceled her planned visit this month to London. The issuance of a warrant for her arrest, following earlier efforts to arrest Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other visitors, is curdling relations between Israel and Britain.

"It's about time for Britain to amend its law because, if this is possible, it will very severely damage the relations between the two countries," said Yehuda Blum, Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations. "The abuse and misuse of this concept of universal jurisdiction should be discontinued."

Blum, who teaches law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said the law was intended for use in cases with no clear jurisdiction, such as piracy in international waters, and should not be expanded for political aims.

"Why not use this against Vladimir Putin over Russia's role in Chechnya?" he said. "There is no end to it. This has caused great consternation and dismay."

Israeli officials, acting under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the British ambassador Tuesday they expect quick action to change the law. In London, chagrined British officials said they were seeking solutions.

Do they do anything like this for terrorists from Fatah or Hamas who happen to engage in calls for Israel's destruction, exhort others to jihad or spur the ongoing violence against Israel?

After all, Operation Cast Lead was commenced but for the the thousands of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Had the rockets not been fired at Israel, Israel would not have had to engage in attacks to root out Palestinian terrorists who hid behind civilians and UN facilities, nor would they have had to close border crossings between Israel and Gaza. Terrorists have repeatedly attacked those crossings so as to induce Israel to close the facilities so that Israel can be blamed for restricting the flow of goods and services into Gaza; a thoroughly vile propaganda tactic.

Here, the Brits are willing to go after Israeli officials who were operating to protect Israeli civilians from further attacks - the thousands of rockets fired into Israel, and yet the British consider this criminal?

But For Palestinian Terror, Operation Cast Lead Would Not Have Occurred

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is considering taking the severely flawed and biased Goldstone Report to various international bodies in a bid to bring Israeli officials before their jurisdiction in charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity. As YnetNews reports:

The move appeared to mark a change in position, as the Palestinian delegation on Friday backed a move at the UN Human Rights Council to defer a vote on whether the report should be passed on.

Erakat said Abbas' decision came "in light of the controversy that has arisen" around the report, which accused Israel of committing war crimes during its three-week Gaza war that erupted December 27.

"We want to discuss the report in international bodies so they will take decisions on what emerged in the report, in order to insure that the crimes committed by Israel against our people are never repeated," he said.

That's a serious situation, particularly because if they're going to claim that Israel violated Palestinian human rights, they better bring Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders before the same bodies to convict them of war crimes as well - for precipitating the Operation Cast Lead in the first place.

But for kassam and mortar attacks, Israel would not have engaged in Operation Cast Lead.

But for kassam and mortar attacks, Israel would not have engaged in restricting humanitarian aid that was repeatedly hijacked by Hamas to further their war goals (reequiping Hamas at the expense of the civilian population).

But for Palestinian terror attacks, Israel would not need to maintain security checkpoints to thwart suicide bombers.

Without the thousands of rockets and mortars fired at Israel, each with the deadly intent to murder and maim Israelis with range of those mortars and rockets, Israel would not have engaged in an operation that was meant to stop the terrorists from firing on Israel in the first place. That civilians were inadvertently killed in the process is lamentable, but Hamas purposefully put civilians in harm's way by commingling with civilians, wearing civilian clothes, and firing rockets and mortars from civilian areas, including in close proximity to UN facilities.

The Palestinians are hoping to use the Goldstone Report to further undermine Israel's ability to defend itself from future attacks along the same lines.

As others have noted, the overwhelming number of those killed in Gaza were not civilians as the Palestinians propagandize, but were Hamas and Islamic Jihad members. They were counted as civilians primarily because they were wearing civilian garb, even if their longstanding ties to the terror groups were well known. In fact, Israel went above and beyond established international law and the Geneva Conventions to minimize civilian casualties by attempting to contact those individuals personally and directly to get them out of harm's way even as Hamas was engaging in all manner of war crimes to purposefully put civilians in harm's way.

Israel Bashing From Amnesty Int'l, Jordan and Germany

Israel bashing from the usual suspects, and one who should know better.

The US went ahead and increased US foreign assistance to Jordan by $150 million (from $363 million to $513 million), and this is the claptrap that their former Prime Minister comes out with? Classy.

Former Jordanian prime minister Abd Al-Raouf Al-Rawabdeh delivered a speech recently in which he called Israel “a cancer that must be eradicated.” His comment were aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 27 and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “Israel is a cancerous body. This is agreed upon,” he stated.

“Usually, you confront a cancerous body in one of two ways: If you have the power, you use it to eradicate the cancer. But if you don't have the power, you try to contain the danger, until you obtain the power you need in order to eradicate it,”said Al-Rawabdeh.

Meanwhile, all the media outlets are busy screaming that Israel killed Palestinians with reckless abandon during Operation Cast Lead. Amnesty International, which has never been known to cast an objective view on matters relating to Israel, issued the report, and the rest of the media jumped on the bandwagon.

Israel bashing has always been in vogue, and it results in all manner of inane statements, particularly when it comes to the construction of communities in the West Bank. German Chancellor Angela Merkel jumped on the settlement bashing train, claiming that it was an obstacle to peace. Merkel should know better.

Sorry, but the obstacle to peace is the fact that Hamas will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and remains at war with Israel until such time as Israel is destroyed. As I've repeatedly pointed out, Israel has removed Israelis from communities in Gaza and Sinai as part of the disengagement and the Camp David Accords, respectively.

Hamas controls Gaza since 2005, and it has been free of all Israelis save one - Gilad Shalit. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, and all that has done is enable Hamas to arm Gaza for future conflicts, including the ongoing rocket war against Israel. Operation Cast Lead was a response to the thousands of rockets fired against Israel. In other words, but for Hamas firing those thousands of rockets, Israel would not have tried to go after Hamas in well populated areas that Hamas used as human shields.

Instead, Amnesty International and others claim that it was Israel who used human shields. It turns the facts on the ground on its head, but that's what the propagandists do. It's what Israel-haters do. Israel rejects the claims, but now that they're out there, the Amnesty report will be taken as the final word, regardless of what Israel says.

UPDATE:
Elder of Ziyon continues debunking Palestinian claims and has a running count of Palestinian terror attacks against Israel for June 2009 - including the mortar and kassam attacks. Those continue to be underreported in international media, and barely get a mention in Israeli outlets. Yet, every last one is a violation of international law and a war crime for the intent to murder Israeli civilians.

Hamas Continues Rocket Attacks

It's another day in Gaza, and Hamas continues its assault on Israelis with still more rocket attacks. They hit Ashkelon and other Israeli communities within range of their kassam and Grad rockets.

Where's the international condemnations? Where's the demands that Hamas leaders be hauled before courts to face trials for war crimes? You get nothing but crickets when Hamas attacks, but Israel's actions to defend itself from such terrorists gets international dander up and calls for Israel to be keelhauled.

Instead, we're treated to reports claiming that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire? Seriously? Are you kidding me? Hamas has no intention of adhering to a ceasefire. They want Israel to cease, while Hamas gets to fire. That's as Hamas has done for years on end, and Hamas has briefly halted its attacks only after Israel pounds Hamas leaders for a time.

Israel's political leaders are still engaging in the feckless behaviors that enabled Hamas to fire on Israeli communities without fear of consequences. Foreign Minister Livni says that she'd call for a renewed Gaza operation if the rockets continue hitting Israel. Memo to Livni: they are still hitting Israel. By calling off Operation Cast Lead early, Hamas got to not only declare victory, but Israel failed to deal a crippling blow to Hamas leadership and its weapons caches. The Israeli military hammered Hamas positions for weeks, but Hamas gets to crawl out from behind the skirts of women and the cribs of children to attack again. Israel still hasn't fully regained its deterrence factor against Hamas, because Israel's leadership considers a certain level of violence as acceptable.

Rafah residents were warned that Israel may be preparing to launch air strikes against the area along the border. As I've repeatedly noted, Israel's humanitarian gesture to warn civilians along the border fails miserably because Israel gives Hamas ample warning to either get out of the way of the impending air strikes, or to load up the area with civilians so as to maximize the civilian body count. It is counterproductive.

You Don't Say: Hamas Acts Like a Bunch of Terrorists

They're busy crowing about how they defeated the Israelis. They're claiming that they destroyed tons of Israeli tanks, killed a bunch of Israeli soldiers and that only a few of their own were killed in the fighting.

Lying about casualties, who was killed, and purposefully took off their uniforms so as to blend in and avoid having their numbers counted or killed nearly as easily by IDF pinpoint strikes.

It's all just another day at the office for Hamas.

The journalist quoted a top Hamas operative as saying that Hamas lost less than 10 percent of its weapons and ammunition in the past three weeks. "Despite the severe blows, Hamas remains as defiant as ever and it's believed that they still have a lot of weapons," the journalist said.

Various sources in the Gaza Strip, including medics, journalists and a few Hamas supporters are convinced that the movement is not telling the truth about its human losses and the damage done to its security and civilian infrastructure.

One medic said he believes at least 250 Hamas militiamen died in the fighting, while a journalist put the figure at over 400.

The sources agreed, nevertheless, that it was difficult to come up with accurate figures because it was difficult to distinguish between a civilian and a Hamas militiaman.

According to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, on the first day of the war Hamas ordered its gunmen to take off their uniforms to avoid being detected by the IDF. The Hamas gunmen who participated in the fighting against the IDF were all dressed as civilians and the majority arrived at hospitals without their weapons or any other signs revealing their status as gunmen.

Fatah representatives in the West Bank claim that the majority of Hamas's fighters were actually hiding during the IDF operation and had not taken part in the fighting.

They pointed out that only a few hundred gunmen belonging to Hamas and other armed factions, including Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, and Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades, took part in the fighting after the IDF sent ground forces into the Gaza Strip.

No one will be able to figure out how many terrorists died because it doesn't serve the Palestinian cause to find out just how many terrorists were part of the total. Hamas purposefully hid behind civilians so as to mask their true numbers and to inflate the civilian body count in more ways than one.

Of course, all those uniforms are back on display. Smile for the cameras because Israel is again taking notes.



The one thing the terrorists did get right is that Israel stopped short of destroying Hamas, so they can claim that as a victory. Israel didn't stop Hamas from firing rockets or mortars into Israel, and that remains a serious threat. Israel has to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to further terrorist attacks to thwart Hamas from ratcheting up the violence just as it did during the 6-month hudna, which Hamas violated beginning on the fifth day. Hundreds of rocket attacks later, and Israel finally responded. And that was years after Hamas began its rocket war against Israel.

The Investigations Begin; Hamas Terror Continues

No, I'm not talking about the Democrats and their rush to begin hyperpartisan investigations into the Bush Administration as soon as they're out the door (which by the way, the Bush Administration is indeed leaving peacefully, just as every prior administration that has come to the conclusion of their term in office has done in our nation's history).

I am talking about the UN and other nongovernmental organizations looking to find fault with Israel's national defense by going after Hamas in Gaza. The UN officials will call the situation in Gaza heartbreaking, but ignore that they condoned Hamas actions by putting them on the same playing field as Israel, to say nothing of enabling Hamas to operate freely and openly throughout UN refugee camps, building up a terrorist infrastructure whose sole goal is nothing less than the destruction of a UN member state.

These anti-Israel types are just begging to find any morsel of wrongdoing so that they can lambaste and undermine Israel's ability to carry out future acts of national defense in the face of incessant terrorism.

Amnesty International and others will criticize and demand investigations into Israel's lawful use of white phosphorus in Gaza. Let's ignore the thousands of kassams fired into Israel - each a war crime because the intent was to murder and maim civilians - fired by terrorists who purposefully fire from in and around schools, homes, businesses, hospitals, and other civilian areas so as to maximize the chances civilians are killed should Israel return fire.

Hamas war crimes will go uninvestigated. That includes what Hamas is doing now in Gaza. They're engaging in torture and murder of Fatah thugs who they believe were responsible for Israel's ability to hit so many Hamas thugs and terror masters with such precision.

They said the Hamas crackdown on Fatah intensified after the cease-fire went into effect early Sunday morning.

The Fatah members and eyewitnesses said the detainees were being held in school buildings and hospitals that Hamas had turned into make-shift interrogation centers.

Hamas has also renewed house arrest orders that were issued against thousands of Fatah officials and activists in the Gaza Strip shortly after the military operation started.

Schools and hospitals?

Let's also ignore that Hamas hijacked an aid truck meant for Gaza as soon as it entered into Gaza. Hamas is already up to its old tricks, and no one wants to take notice.

Instead, expect the media and UN to fully accept Hamas propaganda claiming that they have proof of Israeli war crimes, which is available courtesy of the Iranian media.

Oh, and it didn't take long before Hamas violated the ceasefire. Their gunmen opened fire on Israeli patrols.

Gaza gunmen fired at IDF patrols on Tuesday afternoon in two separate incidents that mark the first violations of the cease-fire declared Sunday by Hamas.

No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the two incidents, which took place near the Kissufim border crossing, in central Gaza, and in southern Gaza.

This is just a test to see what kind of response Israel will have to continued attacks against Israel. No word on when the UN will investigate the latest attacks on Israel. They wont.

Iran is stepping up its efforts to rearm Hamas, which helps explain why the Saudis are so quick to offer up money for rebuilding efforts in Gaza. They want to limit Iran's influence, but that's money that will go down the drain.

Where is the UN to investigate the arms smuggling and Hamas use of civilians as human shields? Instead, the UN will focus on why Israel opened fire on such terrorists knowing that civilians are present. It's an approach that will end badly for Israel because it is a predestined outcome. Israel cannot defend itself according to the UN and the anti-Israel lobby, which has been pushing for investigations against Israel's actions since day one while ignoring Hamas and their actual and provable war crimes.

It is telling, however, that the Arabs can't agree on a statement regarding the situation in Gaza. Time was, Israel's actions would generate unanimous consent on anti-Israel statements. Now, countries are starting to realize that Israel's actions were fully justified and that they have to walk a fine line between jihadis and Iranian proxies who would just as surely take out their own regimes and overtly supporting Israel.

UPDATE:
Eight mortars fired by Hamas into Israel. Yeah, that ceasefire is working out splendidly. Hamas is using the smuggling tunnels to regroup and rearm, the UN is busy trying to find war crimes by Israel while ignoring the terrorists busy with trying to continue their genocidal war against Israel.

The UN finally came out and said that Hamas rocket fire is unacceptable. What took them so long? Thousands of rockets were fired at Israel, and the situation is unacceptable? Why not let Israel finish off Hamas so that the rockets stop being fired? What is the UN going to do to Hamas about it?

Well, knowing the UN as I do, the UN will blame Israel for Hamas firing the rockets and demand that Israel make still more concessions, which will be insufficient for a group that seeks nothing less than Israel's destruction. Israel has gone after those mortar launchers, so expect later reports to note that Israel broke the ceasefire by attacking mortar launchers, not that Israel came under attack first before firing.

So what about Gilad Shalit? Foreign Minister Livni suggests opening the crossings in exchange for Gilad's release. I would have gone a step further. I would have demanded his release in the name of humanitarian gestures. Nothing in return. If Hamas could release Shalit, I might then consider additional steps, like discussing the opening of border crossings in exchange for Hamas laying down their arms and destroying their weapons caches that are stockpiled in schools, under hospitals, and throughout residential areas.

Gazans know that most of the areas hit by Israel were indeed Hamas strongholds, which is why Gazan anger isn't focused only at Israel, but at Hamas as well. Hamas brought Gaza to ruin, and the Palestinians are starting to figure that out for themselves.

UPDATE:
Because the Grad and kassam rockets aren't sufficiently deadly enough or have a reach capable of hitting Tel Aviv, Iran is doing what it can to ensure that Hamas has the weapons to achieve those goals for the next round of the war with Israel.

Goals and Objectives

It is my sincere belief that Israel stopped its campaign against Hamas far too soon. Hamas was on the ropes, and foreign policy needs to ensure that the operation was completed by the inauguration of Barack Obama was an arbitrary and capricious decision that will actually serve to extend the conflict since Hamas will come back at some point to resume its rocket war with Israel that never ended.

The journalists are busy trying to make sense of the death and destruction in Gaza, and are trying to figure out how Israel can be blamed for all the carnage.

Far too many pundits, diplomats, and journalists will ignore Hamas and their role for initiating the conflict. Thousands of kassam rockets go down the memory hole. Terrorist attacks, a call for jihad and the annihilation of Israel are part and parcel of the Hamas Charter, and yet the diplomats think that they've worked out a ceasefire? Israel ceases, and Hamas will fire. That's as it has been.

All that will be remembered is that Israel dropped tons of ordnance on Gaza and blew up parliamentary buildings, schools, offices, and residences, ignoring that all those facilities were used by Hamas to fight Israel and to hide their weapons and terrorists among civilian populations so as to maximize the civilian casualties.

So, what did Israel accomplish? It reasserted deterrence. It showed that it would not tolerate Hamas rocket attacks, but that deterrence capability lasts only as long as Israel retains a zero-tolerance policy; the first rocket or mortar attack and Israel must go back into Gaza to wipe up those Hamas left.

It's most curious that Hamas now breaks out their uniforms after the cessation of Israel's actions. Hamas is again directing traffic, and perhaps some Gazans will wonder why Hamas went to war and caused so much death, misery, and mayhem with nothing gained.

Hamas put those uniforms away the moment Israel began the airstrikes, but now that Israel has called off the dogs of war, they're back out. Hamas knows that if their thugs wore those uniforms, their gig of hiding behind women and children would have been overtly exposed for the cruel and barbaric act that it was. By blending into civilian populations, Hamas is claiming that the body count was comprised of more civilians than actually occurred. That was done with a propagandists' eye to undermining Israel's right to defend itself and to take the appropriate actions against terrorists operating in densely populated areas.

Hamas makes no bones about its intentions. This is a hudna. It is meant to allow Hamas to regroup and rearm for the next phase of its genocidal conflict with Israel. Hamas would sacrifice the lives of all Gazans to fulfill its religious obligations to destroy Israel. They say that they will continue to smuggle weapons into Gaza for that purpose.

Ed Morrissey thinks that Hamas was a clear loser despite its claims to the contrary. He points out that Iran has changed its stance in relation to the disastrous efforts of Hamas' Iranian militia, which was wiped out with ease. Israel indeed destroyed Hamas at every opportunity, but Hamas will claim the Pyrrhic victory, and if you repeat the lie enough, people will come to believe it.

Arab leaders continue to weigh in on the Israeli operation in Gaza, and Saudi King Abdullah says that Israel used excessive force.

[correction] I wonder if Abdullah would have criticized King Hussein of Jordan in 1970-1 when Fatah and PLO terrorists started a civil war that King Hussein brutally crushed, giving rise to the PLO faction, Black September. Thousands of Palestinians died in that uprising against the Jordanian King. No one shed a tear, least of all the current Jordanian King Abdullah, who now owes his existence to his father's liberal use of force against terrorists arrayed against his regime. Make no doubt, Abdullah is applying quite the double standard here, and it is for Palestinian consumption within the Arab World. Arab regimes have significant Islamist populations that they're trying to keep under wraps, and they're offering just enough red meat to these groups so as to keep them from rising up against them.

The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, has tentacles throughout the Middle East and beyond, and these pronouncements are all designed to keep the Brotherhood placated, even as the regimes themselves are largely breathing a sigh of relief that Israel took Hamas and Iran down a few notches.

Now, the world will begin throwing money at Gaza to rebuild what Israel destroyed. The Saudis have pledged $1 billion in reconstruction aid. I have no doubt that was done with an eye to thwarting Iranian influence there. The key for Israel will be to see that the money isn't diverted by Hamas for rebuilding their terror infrastructure. Even the EU is leery of rebuilding as long as Hamas controls Gaza. Still, watch the UN direct the money into Gaza regardless that the terrorists have retained nominal control over Gaza.

So, where are the Hamas humanitarian gestures? They aren't going to be forthcoming. Nor should anyone expect that Gilad Shalit be released either. Hamas will continue holding him for use to demand Israel release hundreds of terrorists from Israeli jails.

On the 23rd Day, Not Quite a Cease Fire

Israel agreed to a unilateral ceasefire, which is where Israel stops fighting and Hamas gets the option of continuing to carry out war crimes by firing rockets at Israel, but for the moment, Hamas thugs have chosen to avoid firing. We'll see how long that lasts. Given the way Hamas has operated in the past, I don't give them more than a few hours. Hamas routinely violated every 3-hour ceasefire Israel proffered to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Indeed, Hamas thugs have continued attacking Israel in the opening hours:

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would not say what level of violence would provoke Israel to call off the cease-fire.

"Israel's decision allows it to respond and renew fire at our enemies, the different terror organizations in the Gaza Strip, as long as they continue attacking," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet session.

"This morning some of them continued their fire, provoking what we had warned of," Olmert said. "This cease-fire is fragile and we must examine it minute by minute, hour by hour."

Israel must adhere to a zero-tolerance of any additional attacks on it. The reason Israel had to launch Operation Cast Lead in the first place was because it allowed Hamas to think that it could attack Israel with impunity for years on end with rocket attacks. Israel's restraint was seen as weakness and Hamas exploited the Israeli political class' reluctance to attack Hamas, which put Southern Israel at increased risk of attack by kassam rocket and mortar.

Hamas fired 13 rockets at Israel this morning (make that 14 rockets and several mortars and two Israelis injured). Does that sound like a ceasefire to you? Only diplomats would say that one is in place. Watch for the attacks to continue unless Israel resumes its military operation against Hamas. At the same time, watch the media castigate Israel for "breaking" its ceasefire with Hamas, despite the fact that Hamas never stopped attacking Israel in the first place.

Now, Hamas wants to set terms and conditions for this ceasefire as well? That's rich. Of course, the diplomats are facilitating just that, which makes Israel's acceptance of a ceasefire all the more troubling. They may say that they've achieved their objectives, but Hamas is still nominally in charge of Gaza and their leadership is still roughly intact mostly because the top leaders are in Damascus, Syria taking orders from Tehran.

Speaking of Hamas war crimes, when will human rights groups demand prosecutions of Hamas thugs for this:



That's Hamas propaganda video showing Hamas terrorists sending children out into the streets to spot for the terrorists attempting to fire at Israeli helicopters. Hamas fires on the helicopters and knows that Israeli pilots wont return fire knowing that there are civilians are around, and that if they do return fire, the victims will be children. It's a no win situation for Israel, and it's aided and abetted by media and non-governmental groups that routinely ignore the rampant war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas on both Israelis and Palestinians.

As usual, the United Nations will ignore the Hamas attacks, and will express relief at the ceasefire until Israel responds to the incessant attacks. Then, it will blame Israel for attacking claiming a lack of provocation or a chance for the ceasefire and diplomats to get their acts together.

Hamas says it will gradually cease firing the rockets, which is to say that it wont stop attacking Israel, but will simply reduce the numbers to a point where it thinks Israel will stop responding with the force seen thus far during Operation Cast Lead. It's a serious mistake to think otherwise.

Hamas may want to even the score? There's one way to avoid that scenario and it involves destroying Hamas as a political and military entity altogether in Gaza. It means enough with the ceasefires and opportunities for Hamas to regroup and rearm under hudna. Hamas seeks Israel's destruction, and will not waiver in that goal. Israel must destroy Hamas' ability to attack Israeli civilians, which means it must break Hamas' hold on Gaza.

UPDATE:
And like that, out come the uniforms. Hamas police magically reappear on the streets. Days after they disappeared so that they could hide behind women and children, Hamas thugs again show up to show the colors. Funny how that works. And everyone will buy into this nonsense.

Hundreds of Gazans are dead. Buildings smashed and Hamas infrastructure damaged, but Hamas declares victory. Israel may have won the battle, but Hamas declares itself a winner, and the media will agree.

The pressure is on Israel to open borders and to reduce the number of troops in Gaza, so that things are ready for the Obama inauguration. Israel's strategic objectives subsumed by US political needs? How exactly does that work? Who do Israel's political leaders work for? Israel or the US? Israel depends heavily on the US for political support, but Israel's strategic interest lies in destroying Hamas, not allowing it to survive even in a weakened state because Hamas will still attack Israel at the earliest possible moment. This is just a delaying tactic that works against Israel's long term security needs.

Israel is also making excuses for Hamas now? Rockets continue hitting Israel, but Israeli officials say that's just because all of Hamas hasn't quite gotten the memo? That's politics talking, and the diplomats control the outcome. Still, Israel has said that if the attacks don't stop, Israel will respond in force. Israel's military forces are showing that they have regained the initiative and deterrence factor of smashing Hamas hard, though it wasn't the killing blow that it should have been. Time and politics got in the way of victory.

Of course, there are Israelis, including those in the military, who know that Hamas will continue attacking Israel. Hamas wouldn't have it any other way.

Egypt is upset that Israel went with a unilateral ceasefire rather than the diplomatic efforts that Egypt was working with. Considering that Hamas has its own idea of hudna, Israel can do what is best for Israel, rather than doing what's best for Hamas.

Meanwhile, here come the lawsuits. Never mind that they have zero legitimacy. They're just out to get attention for Israel's actions, rather than taking Hamas to task for the war crimes Hamas has engaged in repeatedly. Every act of firing a kassam into Israel was a war crime. Yet, Hamas will get a pass on that. Instead, these suits seek to make Israel's ability to defend itself that much harder.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 22

Hamas will continue fighting until it gets what it wants in the form of another hudna. Of course the media will not distinguish it as such, but Hamas does not believe in ceasefires. They only see those periods as pauses in their war to regroup and rearm. Israel would be foolish to accept any ceasefire without Hamas being forced to lay down their arms, unconditional release Gilad Shalit, and someone other than Hamas controlling the border crossings.

The Iranians, who back Hamas, are calling for the assassination of Israeli Foreign Minister Livni. Typical. Iran regularly calls for Israel's destruction, so this is just being more specific than usual.

Journalists are busy showing their objectivity. Three "journalists" called Livni a terrorist. Funny, but that term is all but illegal in American journalism manuals unless you're referring to Israel or the United States. Let's just ignore Hamas and the years of terrorism.

Hamas keeps firing the rockets deep into Israel and there have continued to be casualties.

Meanwhile, the Israelis are contemplating yet another unilateral ceasefire as a test to see whether Hamas will stop attacking Israel. Considering that each and every prior ceasefire has been unilateral with Israel ceasing its attacks while Hamas continues, this only benefits Hamas. The Egyptian Foreign Minister thinks that Israel is the main obstacle to a cessation of fighting. Curious, but what planet is he on given that Hamas has violated every 3-hour humanitarian truce since Israel started running them a week ago. He knows that Israel can be bullied by diplomats and forced to make more concessions, even though it does nothing to improve Israel's security or tactical situation.

If Israel refuses to go along with the unilateral ceasefire, it will be seen as the bad actor here, despite the fact that the only party ceasing its attacks would have been Israel. Hamas was not being forced to stop its attacks on Israel by the international community. They know better. That's why all their efforts are on getting Israel to stop.

The New York Times runs a fairly balanced article examining crimes and ethics in urban warfare. It notes that Hamas' repeated war crimes and violations of human rights have been given short shrift; apparently everyone knows that Hamas is violating international law, human rights laws, engaging in war crimes, etc.

A plethora of Western foreign ministers, United Nations officials and human rights groups, both Israeli and foreign, have expressed shock and disgust; some have called for investigations into possible war crimes. Such groups also say Hamas is clearly violating the rules of war.

Yet, why exactly is Israel repeatedly castigated for its efforts to stop Hamas from engaging in those war crimes? Because it is Israel.

Those groups have written pages of agitprop that does nothing but support Hamas, all while ignoring Hamas' actual and provable violations of human rights, war crimes and the like.

Shooting rockets out of Gaza aimed at Israeli cities and civilians is an obvious violation of the principle of discrimination and fits the classic definition of terrorism. Hamas fighters are also putting civilians at undue risk by storing weapons among them, including in mosques, schools and allegedly hospitals, too, making them potential military targets. While urban and guerrilla warfare is not illegal, by fighting in the midst of civilians, often in civilian clothing, Hamas may also bring risk to noncombatants.

But Hamas’s violations tend to be treated as a given and criticized as an afterthought, Israeli spokesmen and officials say. They say that Israel has never sought to hit civilians, medical workers or United Nations facilities or personnel. “The rules of engagement are very clear,” said Mark Regev, the government spokesman. “Not to target civilians, not to target U.N. people, not to target medical staff. All this is very clear in Israeli military doctrine.”

Thousands of kassams fired at Israel are absolute proof of Hamas war crimes; they were fired not at military targets, but to specifically kill and maim Israeli civilians. In the days right before the Israeli ground campaign, Israeli forces massed on the border with Gaza. Hamas didn't concentrate fire on those targets, but rather continued firing rockets at Ashkelon, Sderot and other Israeli cities, just as they had for years on end. Even today, Hamas fired a rocket that hit an Israeli synagogue but luckily no one was injured.

Israel's unconscionable restraint in the face of the rocket attacks is the reason that we're facing this conflict right now. Hamas saw restraint as weakness, and acted accordingly. They increased the level of attacks and became far more brazen and open with their attacks and goals. The six-month ceasefire was no such thing; it ended after five days when the rocket attacks restarted. It was the diplomats and Israeli politicians who ignored those attacks until even the Israeli public could see the obvious; Hamas was fighting a war against Israel and Israel wasn't fighting back.

Yet the media and the world treat Israel as the pariah and Hamas and the Palestinians are to be supported. The Palestinians continue winning a media and propaganda war because had the facts been out there and people realized the extent to which Hamas had been engaging in such violence, support would drop. Instead, the media only flocks to the region when Israel responds to the incessant terror attacks. It gives one side of the equation, and that is unconscionable.

The Times article also refers to the UNRWA school incidents, and quotes Chris Gunness once again, who claims that UNRWA does its best to not harbor "militants" in its facilities, despite the fact that earlier reports note that UNRWA is incapable of weeding terrorists out of its payroll and that it's clear that they have not done so. The Times reports indicate that Hamas indeed fired from in and around the school, that two terrorists were killed in one salvo, and Israel continued to return fire with one shot landing just outside the school, which apparently caused casualties (the exact number is in question, given the way Hamas is on the payroll at Gaza's hospitals). Yet, the UN condemns the alleged Israeli shelling. Why no condemnation of Hamas for firing from in and around the school?

The question then becomes whether Israel is firing back at the terrorists with the appropriate weapons? What exactly are Israeli soldiers supposed to do, use harsh language? Terrorists are busy firing rockets, mortars, machine guns, and anti-tank rockets at Israel and Israeli forces in Gaza, and Israel is supposed to limit what kind of weapons it has at its disposal? Israel already is doing just that.

Israel could choose to drop 2,000 pound bombs on each and every building from which gunfire is reported, leveling them in their entirety. They have chosen not to do so. Instead, ground forces are taking additional risks to avoid civilian casualties that would come from an air campaign and which is also necessary to attack and root out Hamas thugs who have turned Gaza, including all those UNRWA refugee camps into weapons dumps, ammo caches, and a hive of tunnels.

UPDATE:
Shiva at IBAnotes that Hamas had taken over the lower floors of a building used by the BBC and other journalists before they were able to flee the scene, and yet there have been no reports from the BBC to acknowledge that was the case. Why? Would that be acknowledging the blatantly obvious that Hamas is putting everyone imaginable in harm's way to attack Israel, including journalists so that should Israel respond, civilians, including those smug anti-Israel journalists, are caught in the crossfire?

UPDATE:
The headline reads: Israel bombards Hamas hours before ceasefire vote. Israel is contemplating a vote on a unilateral ceasefire that allows Hamas to keep firing on Israel, which Hamas has been more than happy to oblige. Why not have the headline then read: Hamas fires on Israel ahead of Israeli unilateral ceasefire vote? Is that too unwieldy? Hamas continues war despite Israeli ceasefire efforts?

That's what is going on here folks. The media continues taking sides against Israel, whether it's writing biased headlines, omitting key facts like Hamas continuing to fire kassams into Israel and continued calls for jihad against Israel, and details from the conflict, or analysis that is one-sided.

UPDATE:
This is a pretty amazing photo, showing an Israeli WP shell hitting in the vicinity of a UN school. Photographer was able to catch the shell and the fragments landing. So, why was Israel firing on the school and its environs? This photo caption explains:

Palestinian civilians and medics run to safety during an Israeli strike over a UN school in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip early on January 17, 2009. A woman and a child were killed early today in the Israeli strike on the UN-run school in northern Gaza where civilians were sheltering from the fighting, medics and witnesses said. Fierce clashes were underway around the school as Israeli tanks exchanged fire with Palestinian militants, they said.

Hamas was firing on Israel from around the school, and Israeli return fire hit the school. Who will be blamed? Israel of course, because the fact that Hamas was firing from in and around the school will be dropped from reports.

UPDATE:
The Muqata reports that the Palestinian doctor whose three daughters were killed may want to redirect his anger to Hamas. Israeli forces came under sniper fire from the building where his daughters lived.

7:06 PM IDF Update: Snipers were shooting from the home of Dr. El Ayash at IDF forces.

6:31 PM Defense Ministry reporting IDF forces came under fire from the home/medical office building of Gazan (Israeli trained) Doctor El Ayash (who also worked at Seroka hospital in Be'er Sheva). IDF forces returned fire on the terrorist source and among the killed were Dr. Ayash 3 daughters.

Hamas using human shields. Again. War crimes. Again. Will anyone care to report it as such? No.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 21

And you thought that Hamas would actually agree to a ceasefire? Hamas continues firing rockets into Israel. You must not have been paying attention all these years. Khalid Meshaal, who leads Hamas from the safety and comfort of Damascus has said that Hamas will not accept any ceasefire. That's easy for him to say at this point since the bombs aren't dropping on his head for now. Meshaal wants the Arab world to cut ties with Israel and so far Bashar Assad agrees. That makes sense given that Assad is host to Iranian, Hamas and Hizbullah thugs and is a major reason that the terrorist groups have the weapons and technologies at their disposal.

Israel demands a halt to Hamas rocket attacks into southern Israel and internationally backed guarantees that Hamas will not rearm by smuggling weapons into Gaza.

"We will not accept Israel's conditions for a cease-fire," Mashaal told the summit. He said Hamas demands that "the aggression stop," Israeli troops withdraw and crossings into Gaza be opened immediately.

He insisted that Israel was to blame for the Gaza conflict.

Mashaal set down Hamas's view of the conflict, trying to fend off suggestions from Egypt and Saudi Arabia that its rocket attacks were to blame for sparking the Israeli assault.

Mashaal said Hamas refused to renew a six-month-old truce with Israel that ran out in December because the period of relative calm had not led to an end of the Gaza blockade.

"Did we do wrong, by rejecting a truce that let the blockade continue?" Mashaal said. "Don't the people of Gaza deserve to live free? ... They want to live free without blockade or occupation, just like all the Palestinian people do."

Left out of the so-called ceasefire is that Israel ceased fire, but Hamas didn't. Hundreds of rockets and mortars were fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza into Israel during that six-month period, and Israel only engaged in retaliatory strikes when Hamas increased the level of attacks in December.

The Turkish President wants to ban Israel from the United Nations. Funny, but where were his calls to ban the Palestinian Authority and Hamas from talks when they were engaging in terrorism against Israel? He was silent. Keep in mind that Erogdan has his own problems to worry about - namely Islamists who threaten to destablize his regime. He's playing to multiple audiences, but don't expect Turkey to cut off relations to Israel or cease its training with the Israelis anytime soon.

At the same time Israel is taking on Hamas in Gaza, Fatah is cracking down on Hamas in the West Bank. Are there going to be calls for the world to alienate Fatah? Fatah wouldn't be in a position to crack down on Hamas unless Israel was taking out Hamas leaders in Gaza. This is a direct response to Israel's operation in Gaza.

Gazans continue to believe that Hamas are heroes, and thousands turned out to mark the death of terror master Siam.

Siam, 50, was a high-profile figure in Gaza. A former head of Hamas special executive forces, he won the highest number of votes in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council; and was considered by many as the man who ended the Gaza anarchy by de facto ending the armed militias' frenzy, so common in the Strip until that time.

The defense establishment said Siam's brother Ayad and the head of Hamas' security organization in Gaza, Salah Abu Sharah, were also killed in the strike.

Siam was the most prominent Hamas figure targeted in Operation Cast Lead so far, and the most senior persona to be hit since the assassination of Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, in 2004.

Mohammed Nazzal, a member of Hamas' political bureau in Damascus said Thursday that "despite Israel's desire to annihilate Hamas' leadership, the factions will continue to defend Gaza Strip."

Hamas says that Israel has lost it in killing these terror masters even as Hamas swears vengance. If Israel truly lost it, Hamas wouldn't be operating anywhere in Gaza or Syria. Israel is still operating with more restraint than any other nation would dare.

Again, it's real easy for the terror masters in Damascus to sound tough when their lives aren't on the line and they are hosted by Assad in comfort. To them, Gazans who die are propaganda pieces in their unending war to destroy Israel.

What these statements also show is that Israel has started regaining the deterrence factor that it had lost by refusing to retaliate for the hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel during the six-month ceasefire along with the thousands fired at Israel in the months and years previous to now. Restraint was mistaken for weakness, and Hamas still needs to learn that lesson in a very harsh and real manner.

It's also relevant to diplomatic efforts to try and get Israel to discuss peace with Syria. Syria hosts terrorists like Hamas and Hizbullah, and yet we're to believe that Syria is serious about peace or that it seeks peaceful relations? Israel already has a cold peace with Syria - without the return of the Golan Heights. Returning the Heights would give Syria a strategic platform from which it could dominate Northern Israel, just as it did prior to 1967. Given Syria's cozy relationship with terror groups and UNIFIL's repeated failures, there's absolutely no reason to trust Syria's intentions or the UN's capabilities to thwart terror attacks on Israel.

UPDATE:
Hamas has to show that they're still in control (HT: ploome hineni at lgf), which is why they continue making bellicose demands. They're not in a position to make demands on anyone or anything, but here they are doing so and the diplomats are more than content to allow them the opportunity.

Also, note that no one is apparently demanding that Hamas release Gilad Shalit as a condition for Israel ending its Gaza operations. Where are the humanitarian gestures by Hamas? Again, we're seeing that conditions are being pressed for Israel, but not Hamas.

UPDATE:
Photo time:

Is that how you carry an injured Palestinian boy whose arm is bandaged? If anything, that would cause additional injuries. As you review the hundreds of photos of injured children, note that those carrying them are actually likely to make those injuries worse than claimed. If someone's arm is injured, you don't grab the person by that same arm.

Dead ambulances. Israel blamed for attacking poor defenseless ambulances, but let's not forget that Hamas has used ambulances in the past to carry their terrorists around town in the past to attack Israel.

Celebrating a mass murderer in Gaza. Thousands turn out to honor the mass murderer Siam.

Gee, we're supposed to listen to the OIS when they invite the Sudanese leader who's overseen the Darfur genocide to the table? I think not.

UPDATE:
What got into Israel?

"Hamas took a gamble. We thought, at worst Israel will come and do something from the air - something superficial. They’ll come in and go out. We never thought that we would reach the point where fear will swallow the heart and the feet will want to flee. You [Israel] are fighting like you fought in ‘48. What got into you all of a sudden?"

I'd say a healthy dose of realism and the survival instinct kicked in; dealing Hamas a death blow is necessary to Israel's survival, and the terrorists once again gambled and lost. They thought that Israel would do little in response to their rocket war, but Israel hit them hard and fast and with ruthless efficiency. The IDF also took care of aptly named Iran unit of Hamas:

The so-called "Iranian Unit" of Hamas has been destroyed, according to Gaza sources cited Thursday by the Haaretz daily. The sources said most of the unit's 100 members were killed in fighting in the Zeytun neighborhood of Gaza City.

The terrorists had been trained in infantry tactics, the use of anti-tank missiles and the detonation of explosives, among other skills, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Hizbullah camps in Lebanon's Beka'a Valley, as well as sites in Iran

UPDATE:
Hamas and Hizbullah are proxy armies for Iran, and the Hamas defeat isn't going to sit well with Ahmadinejad and the thugs in Tehran. This goes to why Meshaal is busy demanding Hamas attack and ignore ceasefire calls. His neck is on the line, not because of an Israeli attack, but because he's perhaps been told in no uncertain terms that Iran is about to revoke his Damascus privileges. There's a disconnect between Damascus Hamas and the Gazan Hamas who are swiftly being turned to humus.

Israel has indeed fought Hamas to a bloody pulp, and Israel isn't done yet.

Fatah has finally found its courage to take on Hamas in the West Bank, cracking down on Hamas there. That wouldn't be possible without Israel's operation in Gaza. Hamas wants to think that Israel has lost it by going after Hamas terror masters? Good. Let them.

Meanwhile, Hamas is making the same demands for Shalit's release that they've been making from the day he was captured after a Hamas unit invaded Israel to capture Israeli soldiers (two other IDF soldiers were killed in the operation). They've been demanding the release of hundreds of terrorists in exchange for Shalit.

Israel must disabuse Hamas of that notion, but Hamas has hope that Israel will eventually cave and release prisoners given the way Israel forked over hundreds of terrorists for the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. That is, unless Israel learned that lesson as well (that you never carry out trades with terrorists because it only encourages further incidents).

The US and Israel have signed an anti-smuggling deal, which should put a crimp on Hamas resupply efforts.

Qatar and Mauritania have both suspended relations with Israel. Gee, that's really going to hurt, but I don't recall either country suspending relations with Sudan for their role in facilitating the ethnic cleansing and genocide in Darfur? Double standard? Absolutely.

The media just throws out baseless claims of Israel brutality, propagandists repeat the claims and soon they're treated as fact when the reality is something else entirely.

Outrage in Gaza?

The media and the UN are making a big deal about the building that the Israelis fired on and caused damage to in Gaza. Why would Israel have fired on that building in the first place? Well, turns out that the UNRWA was hosting Hamas thugs who were firing on Israelis with machine guns and anti-tank weapons:

Israeli troops shelled the U.N. headquarters in Gaza after coming under fire from Palestinian militants, a senior Israeli military officer said on Thursday.

The artillery attack set the compound on fire, destroyed tons of food and humanitarian supplies, reportedly injured three people and forced hundreds of refugees to flee.

Israel says it does not target U.N. buildings or personnel. But the Israeli officer said troops opened fire after militants inside the compound shot anti-tank weapons and machine guns. He said the troops used 155 mm artillery shells. Throughout its 20-day offensive in Gaza, Israel has accused Hamas militants of hiding in civilian areas to stage attacks.

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement expected later Thursday.

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to press Israel, and Gulf leaders gathered to discuss the conflict, expressed "outrage" over the bombing.

So now Secretary Ban Ki-Moon is expressing outrage? Where was the outrage over Hamas using UN facilities to target Israel? Where was the UN to block Hamas terrorists from infiltrating the UNRWA? Outrage?

You want outrage?

I'll give you outrage:

Hamas has been assisted time and time again by UNRWA and UN largesse and condoning of Hamas activities. Hamas openly indoctrinates terrorists in UNRWA facilities, using schools to fire rockets at Israel and you have the temerity to feign outrage because Israel hit one of your precious buildings? Seriously? That any aid is getting to Gaza is the result of Israel doing more humanitarian relief than the Gazans care to do for themselves. The UN has done nothing to end the years of terrorist attacks and war crimes by Palestinians against Israel. That's right - war crimes. Purposefully attacking Israeli civilians is a war crime. Do you think we'd forget or not notice the thousands of kassams fired - each with an intent to murder and maim Israelis?

Where was your outrage then?

The UN has outlived its usefulness in Gaza, and it is part of the problem there, not the solution. By playing moral equivalents, the UN aids and abets a terrorist group while undermining the sovereign rights of a member nation. No other nation would ever tolerate such an affront, and yet it's expected when Israel is involved.

You want to see the situation in Gaza improve? Kick the UN out altogether. UNRWA, UNDP, the whole bunch.

The outrage is that the UN has done nothing while Hamas has turned Gaza into an armed camp for war against Israel using the population of Gaza as human shields. The outrage is the moral bankruptcy of the UN, even as they're dictating that Israel stop fighting to defend itself while demanding no such actions on behalf of Hamas or the other terrorists.

Yet, we're supposed to believe that the UN will protect Israel from further attack? UNIFIL is useless in preventing Hizbullah from arming in Lebanon, carrying out invasions and wars against Israel (Hizbullah war in 2006), subsequent rearming of Hizbullah despite UN resolutions reiterating the prior resolutions demanding disarmament of militias in Lebanon.

It has played host to Hamas and other terrorists operating from UN facilities. Most egregiously, the UNDP is now going to be headed by Iran, which also seeks Israel's destruction.

Morally bankrupt and yet we're hearing him talk about outrage. That's outrageous.

UPDATE:
MSNBC has edited the story to remove the content I previously quoted. It's since been replaced with the following:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the military fired artillery shells at the U.N. compound after Hamas militants opened fire from the location. Three people were wounded.

"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologize for it," he said.

John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency operations in Gaza, described the Israeli claim as "total nonsense" and "typical misinformation."

U.N. officials said hundreds of people sheltering in the compound were forced to flee, and that the Israeli shells contained white phosphorus, an incendiary agent that can cause horrific injuries. After the shelling, fire spread to nearby fuel tankers in the compound, triggering another massive explosion.

It's total nonsense and typical misinformation? Perhaps Ging needs a refresher on what Hamas does with UNRWA facilities.

Or maybe we should ignore the blood libels spewed by UN officials?

Operation Cast Lead: Day 20

The Hamas terrorists continue firing rockets into Israel, and continue attacking Israeli forces operating in Gaza from UN positions. This should come as no surprise. UNRWA admits that they've had Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists on their payroll for years and have been freely teaching anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda in the UNRWA-operated schools. As FoxNews reports:

The United Nations agency that administers a school in Gaza where dozens of civilians were killed by Israeli mortar fire last week has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.

A growing chorus of critics has taken aim at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in recent years, although momentum on Capitol Hill has been slow. But last week’s incident, which Israel maintains was prompted by Hamas operatives firing mortars at Israelis from a location near the school, has prompted some lawmakers to scrutinize the U.N. agency.

UNRWA isn't the solution. It's a huge part of the problem. It has condoned the activities of terrorists and provides them with safe havens from which to operate, including schools and the very refugee camps that UNRWA administers.

So, it should come as no surprise that Hamas thugs were firing on Israeli positions from in the vicinity of UNRWA administrative buildings in Gaza. Israel responded to Hamas anti-tank fire with attacks of its own. The NYT reports that UN officials (namely Chris Guiness) were told by unnamed Israeli officials that the attack was a mistake. MSNBC says that Ehud Barak told the UN that there had been a "grave mistake", but the Jerusalem Post contradicts that statement claiming that Israel was justifiably firing on terrorists operating in the vicinity of UNRWA facilities. Carl in Jerusalem has more on this. If Hamas or other terrorists were firing on Israeli positions from UNRWA facilities, Israel is more than justified under international law to return fire. Terrorists do not get the benefit of doubt.

Reports also indicate that the nearby hospital was hit by gunfire. Hamas has no care for human life, and purposefully uses human shields to maximize the body count. Israel has sent five of its firetrucks to assist in dousing the fires at the UNRWA headquarters.

The UN continues to push out nonsensical and morally bankrupt statements such as the death toll in Gaza being unbearable. If that's the case, why isn't the UN demanding that Hamas cease attacking Israel and laying down its arms as it operates from within UNRWA administered locations throughout Gaza? But for the Hamas war against Israel, Israel would not be forced to defend itself by going after Hamas terrorists inside Gaza.

Where is the UN and ICRC to demand access to Gilad Shalit. He's been held by Hamas for more than 2.5 years, and the only reason that he's being held by Hamas is so that Hamas can demand Israel release hundreds of terrorists in exchange for Shalit. Where are the demands by the UN or other human rights groups for Hamas to engage in a humanitarian gesture by releasing Shalit unconditionally. The reason is simple. No one expects the terrorists to engage in humanitarian gestures. That's why Hamas continues violating each and every 3-hour Israeli ceasefire allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. It's why it's sheer folly for Israel to consider any longer ceasefire when Hamas will use that time to regroup and rearm.

That's because the UN too is part of the problem and its organization is riddled with the same anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment that we see from Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups.

Venezuela is the latest country to break off relations with Israel. [T]hugo Chavez is close warm personal friends with Iran's Ahmadinejad (who's busy calling for the Arab world to cut relations with Israel), so it should come as no surprise that he's doing his friend's bidding. The same goes for Bolivia's Evo Mendes, who broke off relations with Israel yesterday. Never mind that all three countries are busy funding terrorists and call for Israel's destruction.

As per the NYT report, Israeli human rights groups were ignoring Hamas terrorist attacks and tens of thousands of documented terrorist incidents - each and every instance a war crime - and instead are seeking to find war crimes against Israel:

Also on Wednesday, nine Israeli human rights groups called for an investigation into whether Israeli officials had committed war crimes in Gaza. The groups say that tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza have nowhere to flee, the Gaza health system has collapsed, many people are without electricity and running water, and some are beyond the reach of rescue teams.

“This kind of fighting constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the commission of war crimes,” the groups said in a news conference on the 19th day of the war.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, who spent Tuesday in Gaza City, agreed that the situation with civilians was dire but said that the principal hospital was making do with medical supplies, and that doctors, working around the clock, were mostly coping with the flow of the wounded.

Let's ignore the Hamas use of human shields, attacking from civilian areas, putting civilians at risk, purposefully targeting Israeli civilians, and calls to genocide and ethnic cleansing of Israel. Instead, these "human rights groups" stand human rights on its head and attack a nation's right to defend itself from attack. Hamas is responsible for the events in Gaza, and but for the rocket attacks, Israel would not have responded. Indeed, Israel didn't respond to the rocket attacks for years, and didn't respond to the hundreds of kassam attacks during the last ceasefire, which is why Hamas continues to believe that it can and will destroy Israel.

If Israel injures or kills civilians accidentally, it rushes to apologize. Hamas attacks civilians purposefully and cheers gleefully when Israelis die. Yet the media, the human rights groups, and the diplomats ignore this crucial difference. Do mistakes happen during wars? Yes. Do civilians get killed during wars? Yes. Do terrorists deserve the benefit of doubt. Absolutely not. The death toll in Gaza is higher precisely because Hamas seeks to maximize the casualties by operating outside the bounds of the laws of war and the Geneva Conventions.

Where can Gazans flee? Egypt doesn't want them. Israel left Gaza in 2005 precisely to see whether Gaza could live in peace with Israel. Gazans have to choose between war and coexistence; and that means finally standing up against Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They have a choice to make, and knowing how Palestinians have chose in the past, they will again choose Hamas and terrorism, despite the terrible toll.

UPDATE:
Israeli operations killed five Hamas terrorists, who happened to be bodyguards to one of the Hamas bigwigs, Mahmoud Al Zahar. Arab reports suggest that the IDF has Zahar's home surrounded. Israellycool has the details and more extensive updates.

The Muqata reports that Israeli soldiers came under fire from UNRWA positions and from buildings being used by journalists, which explains why Israel returned fire to those locations and their vicinity. Hamas is using journalists and the UN as cover to carry out their terror operations and hopes that Israel kills civilians, UN officials and/or journalists to further Hamas propaganda aims.

Muqata also has this report:

12:12 PM Italian reporter, one of the first members of the foreign press allowed into Gaza claims that there is no real humanitarian crisis in the strip and, surprisingly enough, reports in the Arab media are greatly exaggerated. This is in line with G.S.S. Yuval Diskin's statement for a couple weeks ago. (source in Hebrew)

UPDATE:
UNRWA is claiming that Israel fired on the warehouse using white phosphorus (WP). Expect to see whining and seething from the human rights groups that this is somehow a human rights violation or war crime, when Israel is within its rights to use WP.

There's nothing controversial about the use of WP, other than the fact that Israel is using it. It isn't an illegal weapon, it isn't a chemical weapon, and nations the world over have it in their arsenals. Human rights groups and anti-Israel groups are trying to make it controversial, but they're treading on thin ice. They're hoping that the repeated mention of it creates outrage and forces Israel to stop using yet another tool in their defense.

UPDATE:
Expect to hear complaints about how Israel killed Hamas' interior minister.

Hamas' interior minister, Said Siam, considered one of the most senior members of the Palestinian group's leadership, was killed Thursday afternoon in an Israeli air strike on his brother's home in Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Siam's brother Ayad and the head of Hamas' security organization in Gaza, Salah Abu Sharah, were also killed in the strike. Palestinian sources reported that 20 other people were injured in the attack.

Siam, 50, is the most senior Hamas figure assassinated in Operation Cast Lead so far, and is the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the assassination of Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in April 2004.

People will attempt to claim that there's a difference between Hamas military and political wings, but that's a smokescreen. Both are Hamas and both are dedicated to the same goal. What are the Siams' role in Hamas? These guys organized the top level terror infrastructure.

UPDATE:
Hamas is now more accepting of a ceasefire? I guess when your top terrorists are dying in airstrikes, you reconsider your alternatives - a hudna lets you regroup, rearm, and prepare for the next battle. Of course, note too that Hamas wants to do everything possible to make the ceasefire one-sided. It claims to be doing so in the name of the Palestinian people, but if that ever were the case, Hamas would not have started a rocket war against Israel and attempted to negotiate a peace deal on the basis of the 2000 Camp David outlined proffered by Ehud Barak. In fact, Palestinians could have already had their state if they offered up counterproposals rather than rockets and mortars and suicide bombers in response to the Barak offer. Instead, we've got nothing but death, pain and misery because Arafat refused to provide a counteroffer to Barak, and Arafat, the PA, Fatah and Hamas launched into another Intifada.

UPDATE:
Photo review time.
Palestinians transport wounded people. I'd get hurt just attempting to ride in a car like that.

If Israel really wants you dead, here's what they do to your home. That was the home of a major Hamas terrorist. That's a clarion call that terror masters understand. Despite their bravado, they're cowards at heart and aren't keen on dying. They'd much rather have others die for them - the more Palestinians who die, the better since Hamas doesn't have a clue how to govern but it churns out the propaganda like clockwork.

Propaganda masquerading as captions.

Are Human Rights For Some, But Not For Others?

I found this speech posted on Jpost and thought it important to reprint it in its entirety.

Liraz Madmony, a 23-year-old law student from Sderot, addressed the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Gaza in Geneva on behalf of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) on Monday, before the vote by the council that condemned Israel's military offensive in Gaza and resolved to send a fact-finding mission to investigate alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinians.

Here is the text of her speech.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I come from Sderot, the city in Israel that for eight years has been terrorized, by 10,000 rockets fired against us from Gaza.

As a law student, I learned - and I believe - that all human beings have the right to peace and security.

But when I see today's resolution, I ask: Why is the United Nations ignoring my suffering? When the terrorists committed these 10,000 violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, why was the UN silent?

Are human rights for some, but not others?

The constant assault on Sderot has destroyed our ability to lead a normal life. The warning before each attack gives us only 15 seconds to run for shelter. Fifteen seconds that will decide, life or death.

Mr. President, who will protect our right to life? My family does not have a bomb shelter, so we run to the most protected room, which is the shower.

There is one attack I will never forget. We heard the siren at seven in the morning. We ran to the shower. The rockets fell next to my house. My little brother, who was 14, went to see if anyone needed help. He found a man whose legs were blown off, and a woman blown to pieces.

My youngest brother is six. The rockets have been falling for eight years. He knows no other reality.

Everyone suffers in Sderot. Fathers and mothers are afraid to go to work, creating poverty. Kids are afraid to go to school. I have missed many of my law classes. My friends are afraid to visit. The streets lie empty.

I dream of the hometown that I remember. When the park near my house was filled with happy families and children playing. When people enjoyed life.

I still dream of peace. It will come when the rulers of Gaza choose humanity over hate, when they stop firing on our children while hiding behind their own.

We refuse to grant victory to the terrorists. We choose to live, staying strong with our faith, family and love of country.

Mr. President, who will protect our most basic human rights? My country is now trying its best, and all who love life and desire peace should pray they succeed.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I cannot imagine in my worst nightmare what it must be like for the people of Sderot and the other towns targeted by thousands of rockets from Hamas. Hamas has one goal, to eradicate Israel. It is the most basic human rights violation, the eradication of a people, yet the world turns a blind eye.

Forget for a moment who started what. Forget for a moment who is on who's land. Forget for a moment who may or may not have a biblical right to be somewhere. Is it right to subject a people to constant attack with the sole goal of eliminating them? If it is wrong for Israel to attack the Gazan people, is it not also wrong for the Gazans, led by Hamas, to attack Israel? At the very minimum, world condemnation should be equally divided between Hamas and Israel.

Now, take into account that Israel does not purposely target civilians; that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, hides weapons in schools, hospitals, masques, and cemeteries; that Hamas' charter makes the destruction of Israel its goal; that Isreal provides humanitarian aide to the people of Gaza; that Hamas steals that aide and sells it to the highest bidder; that Hamas uses tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza' that Hamas purposely targets civilian populations in Israel, and you wonder how the world can sit by and claim with a straight face that Israel is the true violator of Human Rights.

Its a shame that not only is the world condemnation of Israel so universally accepted, but that this falsehood is so openly spread by world media. The media's continued biased reporting is nothing short of disgusting. The American mainstream media should be ashamed of itself. It has not crawled out from under the rock that it placed on itself in years. From false national guard memos, to investigative reporting that presumes its own conclusion, to not fairly reporting on election candidates, to failing in line to condemn Israel. The media has shamed itself to such a degree that it has lost most of its credibility. Printing obviously false and doctored photos, to running propaganda video, to reporting on national security issues. The media has caused more harm than good and has made a mockery of all that it stands for.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 19

Israel continues to be bombarded with rockets, although not only from Gaza. Three more rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. Those attacks headed for Kiyrat Shimona, where schools continue their classes, but from within bomb shelters. Watch for Hizbullah to issue denials, but they're just biding their time. Hizbullah is watching to see what kind of Israeli response is mounted to those rocket attacks. Israel responded to the rocket fire with an artillery barrage of its own. However, it also shows the futility of Israel relying upon UNIFIL to disarm Southern Lebanon and all the militias operating there - particularly Hizbullah, which is the de facto controlling authority in Southern Lebanon.

As for the situation in Gaza, Hamas has been hurt, but not destroyed. Hamas thugs running the show from Gaza are apparently bickering with the bigwigs who are sipping tea from the comfort of Damascus. The terror masters in Damascus are seeking for Hamas to continue fighting, while those in Gaza are starting to waiver from their war aims.

Inside Gaza, the military wing of Hamas has been hit “to a certain extent” with “a few hundred” Hamas fighters killed during the ground offensive that began midway through the war, the intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in return for discussing internal assessments of the conflict. Hamas is still able to launch 20 to 30 rockets a day, including 5 to 10 missiles of ranges longer than 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles, down by a third from the start of the war, the officials said.

Greater damage has been done to Hamas’s capacity to run Gaza, with a large number of government buildings destroyed over the course of the operation, they said.

The Israeli Army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, speaking to Parliament on Tuesday, said that “we have achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure, its rule and its armed wing, but there is still work ahead.”

In Egypt, efforts to broker a cease-fire were complicated by bickering inside Hamas, the Egyptian official said. The official said that Hamas representatives in Gaza were eager for a cease-fire, but were being blocked because political decisions were being made by the group’s leadership in Damascus, Syria.

There's a reason that the terrorists in Gaza want a ceasefire (hudna). They know that they've been hurt hard. The terrorists in Damascus haven't felt the pain of Israeli weapons falling on their heads, destroying their ammo dumps and their ability to operate. The Damascus Hamas thugs, including Khalid Meshaal, see Hamas thugs in Gaza as cannon fodder, and don't care what happens to Gazans or to their own military capabilities.

In that respect, the failure of Hamas to figure out what they want enables Israel to continue pounding Hamas targets throughout Gaza into oblivion. Hamas rocket fire continues as well, hitting Beersheba and Yavne, while sirens were heard in Ashdod and Askhelon. Israel cannot stop until Hamas is incapable of firing a single rocket into Israel.

Israel continues attacking Hamas smuggling tunnels, which are pervasive along the former Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Meanwhile, various statements by top politicians in Israel are going to give Hamas hope that they can outlast Israel's current retaliatory strikes and claim victory (which they'll do regardless of how many dead Hamas there are and how much of their terror infrastructure is destroyed).

Defense Minister Ehud Barak's statements regarding the nearing end of the Israeli offensive in Gaza have earned him harsh criticism from top Jerusalem officials, who have said that Hamas interprets such statements as Israel trying to find a way out of the fighting.

"Leaking details of ministers' private initiatives is irresponsible and regrettable," said a state official.

Other top Jerusalem sources said that such private initiatives, which are not sanctioned but the limited cabinet – namely Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni – are detrimental to the future success of Operation Cast Lead.

Israeli leaders have thus far shown that they've learned lessons from the 2006 Hizbullah war, but their political instincts keep undermining the war effort. Hamas is on the ropes, and Israel cannot back down until Hamas surrenders.

Hamas continues hiding weapons all over Gaza, including in and around cemeteries. An Israeli airstrike hit one such cemetery, and the photographers and stringers had a field day with the illustrative comments of body parts flying about.

Elsewhere, we've finally heard from Osama bin Laden, who manages to come up with the same empty platitudes he's done in the past; seek jihad and launch a holy war to come to the aid of Gaza. In other words, it's nothing we haven't heard from him before. Jihadis seek jihad.

Protests continue around the world, including in Manila, where signs call for the cessation of killing of women and children. Where were these protests when Hamas was firing rockets with the intent to kill Israeli women and children? Oh yes, that doesn't count. Only when Israel responds to kill those terrorists who hide behind Palestinian women and children does the world show its outrage - at Israel.

UPDATE:
Is that all Hamas has left? Taunting Israeli soldiers with text messages? Israeli soldiers are already roaming freely throughout Gaza and killing Hamas thugs wherever they are found. Hamas thugs hide behind women and children, fire on Israel from schools and use hospitals and mosques as ammo dumps, and yet they're taunting Israeli soldiers?

UPDATE:
What humanitarian crisis? Gazans have little to fear from wanton Israeli airstrikes as witnessed by photos showing busy marketplaces fully stocked with food and no one fearfully running from Israeli airstrikes occuring nearby. There's a reason; they know that Israel isn't purposefully attacking civilians or gathering places. Hamas, on the other hand, couldn't care less who dies, which is why they're trying to goad Israel into attacking busy locations, schools, hospitals, and the like.

UPDATE:
War crime? Oh, it's just Palestinian terrorists firing a phosphorus shell purposefully at Israeli civilians. Never mind then. International law makes it abundantly clear that purposefully targeting civilians is a war crime. Nonetheless, the human rights groups lose their voice when Hamas attacks, but gets strident (and stridently wrong) when Israel defends itself.

UPDATE:
Has Hamas accepted a hudna? That's what reports indicate, although they're phrasing it as Hamas looks like they're going to accept a ceasefire.

Senior Hamas official Ayman Taha is expected to hold a press conference at 7:30 pm (GMT) in which he will present the understandings reached during the Cairo talks.

However, a Hamas leader said on Wednesday that points of difference remained over the Egyptian proposal.

"There are still points of difference on the initiative," Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, said in an interview broadcast on Al Jazeera television.

Meanwhile, the website of Spanish newspaper El Pais quoted Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos as saying that Hamas has accepted the ceasefire plan.

The report said Israel would respond to the proposal on Thursday.

The only way to tell if Hamas has accepted anything is whether the rocket fire stops. If Israel gets hit by any rockets or mortars, then there's no ceasefire. Israel can and must adopt a zero-tolerance rule for attacks from Gaza or any of its other borders to deter the terrorists from upping the ante with each successive attack.

Gaza could have avoided so much misery had Hamas simply chosen not to go to war against Israel by firing thousands of rockets at Israel, including hundreds during the ceasefire. All the dead and injured have no one to blame but Hamas, although many will ignore that and go for the easy target - blaming Israel for defending itself.

UPDATE:
There isn't much to report on the outline for the proposed 10-day ceasefire:

Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said details on the proposed cease-fire would be kept "under a lid of secrecy" until all parties agreed but said issues included an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, opening crossings into the blockaded territory and some kind of international monitors.

Hamas and Egypt both have resisted having international monitors in Gaza or at the borders, and UNIFIL has shown itself incapable of disarming Hizbullah or preventing attacks against Israel. Thus, one can only conclude that this will be nothing more than a hudna during which Hamas will regroup and rearm for the next battle.

Israel has already engaged in a series of humanitarian pauses to allow aid shipments into Gaza, which have also managed to include Hamas smuggling equipment in and among the humanitarian aid. Israeli troops would not have entered Gaza had Hamas not bombarded Israel, so the onus must be on Hamas to cease and desist.

Of course, the diplomats see things differently and will force Israel to concede on security matters when Hamas gets to lick its wounds.

UPDATE:
Hamas says that they will not give up the smuggling tunnels and will not stop any actions that relate to their ongoing war against Israel:

Earlier Wednesday another senior Hamas official, Rafaat Nassif, said that the group would not agree to have the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt destroyed. "We reject any attempt to undermine the resistance or any commitment that would undermine the resistance," he said.

"As long as the occupation exists, so will the resistance," Nassif declared in a phone interview to al-Arabiya television network.

Other Hamas officials seem to be playing Egypt and the diplomats for fools, however, as the diplomats think that a deal is going to be forthcoming. I see this as nothing but another hudna in the making.

UPDATE:
Carl in Jerusalem takes a look at the Hamas hudna and doesn't think it's going to amount to much. The Muqata and Aussie Dave at Israellycool are both covering the situation as well.