take care

Answering my skepticism, items from the UNWRA January 2 Situation Report that, in reporting the heartrending situation in Gaza, confirm all three:

1. The main feature of the Israeli Air Force (AIF) attacks in the last 24 hours was the escalation in the targeting of residential houses belonging to Hamas leaders and militants. Some 25 such houses were attacked. Most of their residents received prior phone warnings by the IDF, informing them about the intention to bomb the house and advising their evacuation. In some cases the strike occurred only 5 minutes after the call. Additional people received similar warnings that did not materialize, thus leaving families in a state of panic and uncertainty. The estimate on the total number of Hamas leaders’ houses targeted so far is 45. There has been extensive damage caused to thousands of houses all over the Gaza Strip.

2. Among the houses targeted yesterday was the house of Hamas leader Nizar Rayan in Jabaliya Refugee Camp, who refused to evacuate upon being warned of an imminent strike. As a result, Rayan and 13 of his family members, including 11 of his children, were killed and 12 were injured. According to the IDF the house served as an arms storage place.

3. The Erez crossing is partially open today and two medical cases with two escorts are expected to be evacuated to Israeli hospitals. On Wednesday five chronic patients and one wounded person, together with six escorts crossed. Except for these cases, the PA MoH in Ramallah continues to refuse to authorize the referral of patients from Gaza to medical treatment in Israel as in the past, referring patients to Egyptian hospitals instead.

The complete report is at: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_gaza_situation_report_2009_01_02_english.pdf

At first reading, the article by Johann Hari seemed to me to be reasonable and measured: The vast majority of Palestinians want peace and Hamas (using the article’s terminology) is willing to put it’s ideology on indefinite hold to achieve it. But there are some things that bother me.

Regarding the willingness of Hamas to accept Israel’s presence, his “the Israelis blockaded-so Hamas rocketed-so the Israelis blockaded more-so Hamas rocketed more” seems like a simple chicken-and-egg argument, making it pointless to try to find a beginning. But my recollection of the sequence of events is somewhat different. Whatever Ariel Sharon’s reasons for promoting a withdrawal from Gaza and Ehud Olmert’s reasons for carrying it out, I think that much of the Israeli populace viewed it as a backing-away from confrontation and a pilot trial for a scale-up (did I mention that I am an Engineer?) to a larger withdrawal later. After Hamas was elected, my recollection is that there was a breath-holding period hoping that the responsibility of governance would lead Hamas to exactly the position that Hari says they are ready to take. But, it seems to me, that Hamas’s actions have indicated the opposite. Especially, their repeated attacks on the border crossings themselves indicates to me a desire to further polarize, not soothe the situation. It has certainly been very clear for the last week that rocketing Israel will not open the borders, yet Hamas has continued, knowing full well what they are bringing to themselves and to the rest of the population.

So, on reflection, I don’t find Hari’s position as convincing or as hopeful as I first thought.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-true-story-behind-this-war-is-not-the-one-israel-is-telling-1214981.html

Johann Hari writes: The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling.
It’s good.

I have to take back what I wrote in a previous comment. There have been a number of protests in downtown Cairo, some led by the Ikhwan (the Muslim Brotherhood).

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18840

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/world/middleeast/03egypt.html?ref=middleeast

The Daily News of Egypt and the NYT reported clashes between plain clothes police officers and rioters.

If you read the comments on the Daily News Egypt article you’ll get a good taste of the varying opinions amongst Egyptians. I would say, though, that the the sentiment of “we have shed enough blood for the Palestinians” has been popular amongst my friends, at least.