So, I’ve had BBC News on all day in the background, and all I’ve been hearing is people whining: “Israel is ignoring UN demands for a ceasefire… Israel is ignoring UN calls for a ceasefire… Israel is still launching attacks after the UN resolution calling for a ceasefire… Israel is…”
“This is Israel’s answer to the UN call for a ceasefire,” says the voice-over to a video of a shell being fired. Nice piece of creative newscasting worthy of BrassEye.
Israel, Israel, Israel…
So it has come as something of a shock to me that, contrary to the impression the BBC has given me, Hamas – the democratically elected government of Gaza – is NOT suing for peace!
No, according to The Guardian: Hamas rejects UN call for Gaza ceasefire
Hamas has dismissed the UN security council call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, insisting that whoever tries to enforce it on the ground will be forced to deal with the Islamist movement – underlining its determination to be recognised as a key player in the conflict.
Musa Abu Marzouk, the Hamas deputy political leader, today accused the US – which abstained from voting on the resolution – of wanting to give Israel more time to achieve its military goals in Gaza. “This resolution was discussed in the hallways of the United Nations,” he told Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV. “The movement [Hamas] was not consulted. Our vision and the interests of our people were not taken into consideration.”
Hamas fears a settlement being imposed on it and, like Israel, wants to be able to show it has improved its position as a result of the fighting.
“They [the US] want… to give the enemy more time,” Abu Marzouk said. “But I assure you that they will not achieve any of their goals and they will withdraw in disappointment and they will be defeated.”
Hamas is being backed up by Syria. Syria have said:
Syria, meanwhile, is said to be urging Hamas not to accept Egyptian-French proposals for an urgent ceasefire, saying it should hold out for a deal that enhances its position via-a-vis Israel and its Palestinian rivals.
Read that again slowly, and then ponder this: WHAT LEVERAGE does Syria think Hamas has… other than the World’s revulsion at the sight of more dead civilians?
For days now, the world’s leaders have been burning the midnight oil trying to broker a ceasefire on behalf of a people who, if their elected representatives are to be believed, do not want peace and who have no intention of ceasing to fire themselves.
Their moral backers in Syria (in this instance) are egging them on, knowing that their only ‘victory’ is a high civilian body count that plays out nicely as news-pornography over 101 24-hour TV stations. One can only shake one’s head at the cynicism at work here. Israel, it seems, played straight into Hamas’s hands when it threatened a military operation if they fired another rocket.
So of course they fired another fucking rocket!
