Israel blows ceasefire deal
Israel is proving that it’s never going to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity as I feared before. Israel blew off an offer by Hamas to halt rocketfire. And whether or not you like Carter, he’s also managed to extract negotiable terms from Hamas during his much-maligned meeting, including a ceasefire and a letter from Gilad Shalit to his parents. What is Olmert thinking?
This is not rosy-eyed, kumbaya-singing wishful dreaming — when an unperterable enemy offers a ceasefire, do you turn it down and say “You started it!”? But what is so infinitely frustrating is that by accepting this offer, Israel doesn’t lose anything. There’s no substantial “taking a chance”. Every effort via blockade to halt the rockets and prevent rearmament has erstwhile failed, so lifting the blockade is hardly a sacrafice. Either Hamas’ rockets continue or Israel allows them to gain some diplomatic trustworthiness. Should Hamas fail to follow through, then, fine, Israel can reneg on the deal too. But to turn it down? Stupidity.
The only point in turning it down is if Israel doesn’t want to negotiate at all. Because she does…Right? I find this dogged beleif that Israel is the persistent peace-seeker a bunch of bunk. After all, this is repeat behavior.
I just read a few excerpts from Shut Up, I’m Talking: And Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government and it can’t help but confirm my fears that Israel and her government — being the respective sizes of New York City’s population and it’s governance — often accomplish and hinder more by accident than by design. Considering the Israeli government frequently doesn’t know when the Israeli government is building settlements (either now or then), I find that fits with my understanding just perfectly.
And while I don’t mean to be so negative, particularly in a season of celebration for Israel’s 60th b-day, it’s no time to put on some rosy-tinted blindfold. Sderot, I’m sure, is really glad to hear that Israel has flushed this really dumb deal.
Yes, yes, of course.
But: Israel was stuck because negotiating with Hamas would make the West bank “government” even more of a laughing stock.
And I think there are more people in the five boroughs than in Mandatory Palestine.
Sometimes a refusal to talk is a good negotiation strategy.
“I find this dogged beleif that Israel is the persistent peace-seeker a bunch of bunk.”
What dogged belief are you talking about? If you are talking about this website, I’ve never seen anything but criticism of the state of Israel. Where is this critical mass of misguided American Jews, who blindly follow the belief that all Palestinians are terrorists and only Israel wants peace, and that Israel can do no wrong? It’s the constant theme of your blogs. Where do you get this from?
Have you not watched US news, looked on the internet, or read US newspapers over the past decades? Or, do you think you are the only person who does so?
(Why the Olmert government turned down the cease fire is a legitimate question of course.)
While I agree with your assesment of our government, and I understand your frustration, in this case I beleive you are wrong. What we need to remember is that this is a strugle which will likely lead to another confrontation in Gaza, and the very real danger is the threat to the lives of our soldiers in that case. I think it is for that reason the IDF does not want to provide a respite for the Chamas to boobytrap and fortify unhindered. The lives of our soldiers are the lives of our sons, brothers, and friends, and most those who live here including Sderot residents, (who by and large would come down on the right wing side after living throught the travesty the left has brought upon them), understand this call.
Jonathan,
While there is certainly a relative diversity of perspectives on us news, on the internet and in us newspapers, the organized Jewish community, in particular the loudest most forceful voices, tend to put forward the myth that all israel wants to do is seek peace, and all would be well if only the palestinians would stop fighting and blowing things up.
Yes, on the this blog few posters buy that myth, but that doesnt mean it is not the most prevalent interpretation of things amongst the jews who talk publicly about this stuff.
Here is an interesting angle, appropriate in the week before Yom Haatzmaut, on why Israel should not accept this offer:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870507031&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Note the qouted Hamas official clearly stating that the offer is strategic and not a shift in policy. While the source is the Israeli press, and this is an opinion ed, I have a hard time beleiving the Hamas, as opposed to other palestinian elements, have chosen to seek peace.
“There’s no substantial “taking a chanceâ€. Every effort via blockade to halt the rockets and prevent rearmament has erstwhile failed, so lifting the blockade is hardly a sacrafice. Either Hamas’ rockets continue or Israel allows them to gain some diplomatic trustworthiness. Should Hamas fail to follow through, then, fine, Israel can reneg on the deal too. But to turn it down? Stupidity.” My previous posts go to this qoute from your post, I would take serious difference with your use of the word “Stupidity”, and suggest that the “stupid” move would be to accept unconditionaly.
who by and large would come down on the right wing side after living throught the travesty the left has brought upon them
I’m sorry – but excepting the short period of Ehud Barak’s government from 1999-2001, Israel has been governed by right-wing prime ministers since 1996: Netanyahu (1996-1999), Sharon (2001-2005) and Olmert (2005-). “The Left” has had virtually no impact on Israeli policy since Rabin’s assasination.
Hamas offered a 6 month hudna (ceasefire) to rearm. Actually Islam forbids to make hudna with non-Islamists for more than 10 years. They should negotiate for PEACE, not for temporary hudnas.
did anyone think that maybe, just maybe, the hamas peace offer is just a trick?
Chorus of Apes,
Thanks for your explanation. No doubt that this is very important and interesting web site.
I just wish sometimes that the Israel blogs here, that make many cogent points for the “Left” and/or against this Israeli government, would tone it down with all of the nasty references to the “Right”/US Jews (ie, they think only Israel wants peace, they think of all Palestinians as bloodthirsty, they were behind the war in Iraq, and are doing everything possible to push the US to attack Iran.)
Not only do these views not represent many, if not most American Jews–even if certain leaders with such views speak the loudest–they don’t always represent the “Right” in Israel.
It debases anybody’s arguments to disregard those who disagree with them in such deragatory terms. It’s an attempt to deligitamize the “Right,” which seems a bit dangerous. It’s no different than on Arutz-7’s page, where the “Left” are referred to as “naive, traitors, or self-hating.”
Speaking of the legitimate “Right”…
Amit–were there rockets falling on Sderot and Ashkelon, or waves of bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, before the Oslo Accords? That is something nobody wants to talk about here. (Don’t forget that the Chief of Staff at the time of Oslo, Ehud Barak, said the agreement engandered the country because it allowed the PLO to return to the area, without Israel securing any final, end-of-conflict deal.)
If Israel believes (for good reason) that Hamas is only going to use the truce as a means to quietly build up arms to attack once more, then why shouldn’t Israel (and its partners in the PLO) build up its intel/defenses in the meantime? Okay, so Hamas is allowed to think shrewdly and strategically, but Israel isn’t? (Oh, I forgot – “strategy” is absent from the Olmert government’s vocabulary.)
I mean, if the residents of Sderot are going to be shelled ANYWAY, then why not give them a brief respite? Besides, even a month without rockets would seem like a breath of fresh air.