*Pls digg this excellent analysis on Gaza. Time to disseminate facts and not opinions and emotions*
We have added an excellent analysis by Adam Sheets on the Facts leading to the Israel's attack on Gaza here.
The article is fair and objective and relies on news reports from mainstream media (amazingly) to cobble together a timeline that reflects events and circumstances that lead to the ongoing Gaza attack.
Adam first blows away all the emotions and jumps to cold hard facts, "what were the cease-fire conditions", which were broken by Hamas according to the lame-duck dummy in White House (soon to be replaced thank God) George Bush. It's hard to imagine how the American people were able to survive with the worst president in history, Bush, who even in his last moments cannot think about things beyond his little cultish group of neocon advisers.
Back to Adam's article then, the conditions were:
1. Israel would drastically reduce its military blockade of Gaza.
2. Israel would halt all military incursions into Gaza.
3. Hamas would halt all rocket attacks into Israel.
Adam then systematically discusses each of the three points and lays out who did what, with evidence, not mere opinions:
From the outset of the cease-fire, Israel did little to ease its military blockade. As a result, Gazans continued to suffer from a lack of food, fuel, financial aid, electricity, clean water, medical supplies, and more. This has been, inarguably, an attack on innocent Palestinian civilians.
Did Israel stop its military incursions? No, not according to facts:
Despite the intense blockade against Gazan civilians, the cease-fire held until November 4, 2008. On that date, the Israeli military made an incursion into Gaza and killed six Palestinians.
The result?
the violence from both sides intensified. Efforts to redeem the cease-fire ultimately failed.
More damning is evidence that Israel was planning to engage in an incursion while still claiming to hold to the cease-fire:
In fact, there is evidence that Israel was planning to strike Gaza even while the cease-fire was still in effect.
§ Barak told the assembled lawmakers that the defense establishment spent months preparing for the Gaza operation.
–Haaretz Israel News, Dec. 29, 2008
Was Hamas unwilling to negotiate? Not according to the facts:
"We are so concerned about stability and security in the area that we don’t mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and offering a truce for many years," [Haniyeh]
But of course our neocons along with the Israeli hawks wanted nothing to do with a peace-break. Their goal was to keep Hamas as the villain regardless of anything:
In his own letter, Segal emphasized that a state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas’ de facto recognition of Israel. He noted that in a separate meeting, Youssuf suggested that the Palestinian Authority and Israel might exchange ambassadors during that truce period. This was not the only covert message from Hamas to senior Bush administration officials. However, Washington did not reply to these messages and maintained its boycott of the Hamas government.
Is Hamas not willing to have a cease-fire now either?
Since Israel began its strike on Gaza, 4 Israelis and 391 Palestinians have been killed [18]. The White House said that Israel will cease its attack when Hamas has agreed to a truce. Hamas said they are open to any cease-fire propositions. A cease-fire has been proposed, but Israel rejected this offer.
Adam ends with an appeal:
The international community must continue to demand that a cease-fire be implemented. In order to be successful, any agreement must call for 1) an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza, 2) an end to the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and 3) an end to all rocket attacks into Israel
I urge all fair-minded individuals to read Adam Sheet's "Facts about Gaza" to get a better understanding of the realities of the Gaza massacre.