RSS Feed
November 19th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Western backing for Israel has become strained in the face of civilian
casualties, including the loss of four children and five women from one
family in an air strike on Sunday. The rising death toll from Israeli
strikes includes 53 civilians, according to local health officials.
They said 840 people, including 225 children, have also been wounded. Three
Israelis have been killed.
A statement agreed by EU foreign ministers condemned civilian losses on both
sides and reiterated Israel’s “right to defend itself”.
But it urged Israel “to act proportionately and ensure the protection of
civilians at all times,” adding that there was now an “urgent need to move
towards a two-state solution allowing both sides to live side-by-side in
peace and security”.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, arrived in Cairo for talks
and will travel on to Jerusalem today to lend his weight to calls for a
“de-escalation” of hostilities.
Earlier in the day, an Egyptian official close to the negotiations hosted by
Cairo between Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups, told The
Daily Telegraph that “signals” for a ceasefire were so good that an
announcement could even be made last night.
If there is to be a ceasefire, it is unlikely to meet the terms set by either
side. Hamas is demanding an immediate lifting of the blockade which has
severely limited movement across its borders with both Israel and Egypt.
Israel wants a long-term end to attacks from Gaza, and guarantees from Egypt
that Hamas will not be allowed to rearm from smuggling routes through the
Sinai desert.
The Egyptian official said that Cairo was trying to persuade both sides to
accept a ceasefire with fewer conditions, leaving details of a longer-term
truce to be worked out afterwards.
There were other indications that Hamas would accept a temporary ceasefire if
there were “commitments” to an end to the blockade.
Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, also in Cairo, held a rare press conference
to denounce Israel and say that it would have to accept all of Hamas’s terms
for a truce to be agreed. “The weapons of the resistance have caught the
enemy off guard,” he said. “Whoever started the war must end it. We
will not accept any conditions.”
Mr Meshaal made it clear that in a new, more democratic Middle East, Israel
was in a weaker position than before.
Hamas feels it enjoys a new-found diplomatic respectability in the region, not
least because Egypt is now ruled by a president Mohammed Morsi, from the
Muslim Brotherhood, of which it is itself an off-shoot.
A further demonstration of Hamas’s acceptance will come today, when Arab
League foreign ministers, accompanied by Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister
of the West’s Nato ally Turkey, will make a “solidarity” visit to Gaza.
Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, yesterday called Israel “a
terrorist state”.
There were signs last night that Israel might yet hold off from a full-scale
assault. Brig Gen Mike Hertzog, a former chief of staff to the defence
minister, said Israel might have already achieved the limited goals it had
set itself.
“The political siege of Gaza was broken before the conflict erupted,” said
Brig Gen Hertzog. “Israel has to calculate very carefully before the
transforming relationships around us: it is now about how to find the right
exit point, which won’t be too early or too late.” There was no let-up in
the fighting before the Israeli cabinet met. A senior figure from Islamic
Jihad, Ramez Harb, was among 24 Palestinians killed, hit when a missile
struck an apartment block containing international media offices. A
passer-by also died, and several people inside the building injured.
Rocket fire from Gaza into Israel was heavier than Sunday but intermittent.
Last night’s estimate of the number of rockets fired was 91.
One woman was injured when an explosion occurred in the town of Ashkelon and
Limor Livat, the Israeli culture minister, was forced to take cover as she
toured the town.
Posted in 
