Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Operation Protective Edge - Background

(With thanks to the Israel Project)

In addition to demanding all sorts of concessions from Israel - prisoner releases, lifting restrictions on Gaza, etc - Hamas has also in the last 48 hours demanded a bunch of non-starters from Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Just in the last 48 hours, they've demanded, as part of a ceasefire:

(1) That Palestinian Authority transfers money to pay for Hamas government employees, which wasn't happening when the Fatah/Hamas unity govt was stable, and definitely won't happen now.  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.603649

(2) That Egypt ease movement through the Egyptian-Gaza border, which is a non-starter because the Egyptians fear that jihadists will use the transit in and out of the Sinai Peninsula. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539644,00.html


(3) That Israel fully lift security-based import/export restrictions on the Gaza Strip, which is a non-starter as long as Iran continues trying to deliver advanced missiles to Hamas.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539644,00.html


(4) That Israel release a bunch of prisoners arrested after the murder of the three Israeli teens, which the Israelis won't do because they're seeking to deter future kidnappings/murders.  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=710735


Just to be clear and explicit about how insane this is: Hamas has declared they'll keep firing on Israeli civilians until Cairo and Ramallah make a bunch of concessions to them, which Israel has no power over.

Even if those demands weren't non-starters - and they are - how could Netanyahu going to convince Sisi to let jihadists into the Sinai, or convince Abbas to release precious PA funds to his rivals in Hamas?

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