Wikileaks\USrael: The US Covered The Mossad In The Abu Dhabi Murder

The Cable from Abu Dhabi requesting information about the identities of the Master Card holders suspected to be implicated in the murder of a Hamas executive.

The refusal of collaboration in the investigation.

Hamas learning propaganda war from Zionists

Personally, I did not like this video about Gilad shalit made by Hamas. But I have to admit that we have here a classical example of propaganda war.  Hamas wasn't good at this but they seem to be learning...

An Israeli soldier's advice: 'Talk to Hamas'

Hamas is currently Israel's enemy, but peace is made with enemies, not with friends. Hamas is also a powerful, pragmatic and well organised movement, possibly a future partner with whom Israel can "cut a deal". A reluctance to recognise Hamas as the party in charge in Gaza is a strategy that failed and needs to be replaced. A nation that is truly looking for peace cannot afford to ignore its partners.

The New Report Of The International Crisis Group On Palestine

A harsh assessment of Fatah.

But if Fatah did not create its own predicament, it has been remarkably uninspired in seeking to overcome it. The movement allowed its institutions to wither and rank-and-file militants to drift, as its elite sought perks and privileges of government positions. It sought hegemony over the PA even as it paid lip service to pluralism. It did not bring its political agenda up to date or adapt it to a shifting environment. It resisted renewal of its leadership, marginalising generations of activists and depriving the movement of necessary lifeblood. Worst of all, it failed to respond to or learn from a long list of devastating setbacks: the second intifada and the ensuing devastation of the PA; Hamas’s electoral victories, beginning with municipal elections in 2004 and 2005 and culminating with the parliamentary elections of 2006; the Islamists’ takeover of Gaza in 2007; and the bankruptcy of the peace process.

Hamas, Israel and the ''Absurd''

Hamas is accusing Israel of dumping aphrodisiac gum on Gaza.

Hamas is maybe nervous about the sexual activities of young Gazans but nothing really surprises me when it comes to zionist tactics. One side effect of this is more Palestinian children which Israel would have to kill.

Shlomo Ben Ami: 'Peace will be achieved only by talking to Hamas'

February, 26, 2009, The Times, London.We need to rethink the strategy for achieving peace in the Middle East

Sir, If every crisis is also an opportunity, it is now time to rethink the strategy for achieving peace in the Middle East. The latest and bloodiest conflict between Israel and Hamas has demonstrated that the policy of isolating Hamas cannot bring about stability. As former peace negotiators, we believe it is of vital importance to abandon the failed policy of isolation and to involve Hamas in the political process.

An Israeli–Palestinian peace settlement without Hamas will not be possible. As the Israeli general and statesman Moshe Dayan said: “If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” There can be no meaningful peace process that involves negotiating with the representative of one part of the Palestinians while simultaneously trying to destroy the other.

Whether we like it or not, Hamas will not go away. Since its victory in democratic elections in 2006, Hamas has sustained its support in Palestinian society despite attempts to destroy it through economic blockades, political boycotts and military incursions. This approach is not working; a new strategy must be found. Yes, Hamas must recognise Israel as part of a permanent solution, but it is a diplomatic process and not ostracisation that will lead them there. The Quartet conditions imposed on Hamas set an unworkable threshold from which to commence negotiations. The most important first step is for Hamas to halt all violence as a precondition for their inclusion in the process. Ending their isolation will in turn help in reconciling the Palestinian national movement, a vital condition for meaningful negotiations with Israel.

We have learnt first-hand that there is no substitute for direct and sustained negotiations with all parties to a conflict, and rarely if ever a durable peace without them. Isolation only bolsters hardliners and their policies of intransigence. Engagement can strengthen pragmatic elements and their ability to strike the hard compromises needed for peace...

Hamas Or No Hamas: From The Moment It Withdrew From Gaza Israel Wanted War

By Chris McGreal, The Guardian

Buttu says that from the day the Israelis withdrew from Gaza, they set about ensuring that it would fail economically. "When the Israelis pulled out, we expected that the Palestinians in Gaza would at least be able to lead some sort of free life. We expected that the crossing points would be open. We didn't expect that we would have to beg to allow food in," she said.

Buttu notes that even before Hamas was elected three years ago, the Israelis were already blockading Gaza. The Palestinians had to appeal to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and James Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank, to pressure Israel to allow even a few score of trucks into Gaza each day. Israel agreed, then reneged. "This was before Hamas won the election. The whole Israeli claim is one big myth. If there wasn't already a closure policy, why did we need Rice and Wolfensohn to try to broker an agreement?" asked Buttu.

Yossi Alpher, a former official in the Mossad intelligence service and an ex-adviser on peace negotiations to the then prime minister, Ehud Barak, said the blockade of Gaza is a failed strategy that might have strengthened Hamas. "I don't think anyone can produce clear evidence that the blockade has been counterproductive, but it certainly hasn't been productive. It's very possible it's been counterproductive. It's collective punishment, humanitarian suffering. It has not caused Palestinians in Gaza to behave the way we want them to, so why do it?" he said. "I think people really believed that, if you starved Gazans, they will get Hamas to stop the attacks. It's repeating a failed policy, mindlessly."

On This Blog: Israel disdained the latest truce offered by Hamas

Treating Palestinians and Arabs in contempt and dealing only with those among them who are submissive, extracting from them humiliating concessions while continuing to expand illegal settlements, taking more land, more from Jerusalem, more from this, and more from that, one may wonder what are Israel and the US, the mightier, gaining with this strategy ? The rage of those who are weaker ? Their defeat ? No, not only this. What we are witnessing with this strategyis the progressive transformation, with frightening meticulousness, of a situation that could be potentially negociated into an explosive, unmanageable one.

The intentional derailing of peace in the ME.

Jimmy Carter's visit to the ME in the US press

No Peace Without Hamas by Mahmoud Zahar, in the Wapost.

Our movement fights on because we cannot allow the foundational crime at the core of the Jewish state - the violent expulsion from our lands and villages that made us refugees - to slip out of world consciousness, forgotten or negotiated away. Judaism - which gave so much to human culture in the contributions of its ancient lawgivers and modern proponents of tikkun olam - has corrupted itself in the detour into Zionism, nationalism and apartheid.

...History teaches us that everything is in flux. Our fight to redress the material crimes of 1948 is scarcely begun, and adversity has taught us patience. As for the Israeli state and its Spartan culture of permanent war, it is all too vulnerable to time, fatigue and demographics: In the end, it is always a question of our children and those who come after us.

Carter Calls Israel Treatment of Palestinians a Crime. By Jeffrey Fleishman, The Los Angeles Times.

"I think it's an atrocity what is being perpetuated as punishment" against the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, Carter said. He added that the situation was "a crime" and that people were being "starved" to death living behind walls in prison conditions.

Palestinian Official Says Talks With Israelis Yield Little. By Isabel Kershner, The New York Times.

Jerusalem - The Palestinian Authority's foreign minister on Thursday offered an unusually bleak assessment of the negotiations with Israel and said President Mahmoud Abbas would seek more active American intervention when he meets with President Bush in Washington this month. Riad Malki, the foreign minister and minister of information in the West Bank-based government, told the Foreign Press Association here that the talks on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had so far yielded "no results."
The Israelis and the Palestinians agreed to the talks at the American-sponsored peace conference at Annapolis, Md., last November. The stated goal was to reach an accord by the end of 2008 based on Mr. Bush's vision of two states living side by side. "Yes, they are talking," Mr. Malki said. "All the issues are on the table. But we did not conclude any issue. How long will it take? Nobody knows."

All three articles in Truthout.org

64% of Israelis favour holding talks with Hamas

A poll in the left-leaning Haaretz daily said 64 percent of Israelis supported talks with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, to end cross-border rocket fire from the enclave and to secure the release of sergeant Gilad Shalit, who was abducted in 2006 by Gaza militants.

...Hamas says it would consider a ceasefire if Israel lifted its blockade and ceased military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.Hamas, in talks with Egyptian mediators, has also offered a swap deal that could bring Shalit's release in exchange for the freeing of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli jails.

What really happened in Gaza: An exercise in comparative journalism

Alain Gresh analyses on his blog the different ways with which the recent clashes between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza were reported by the press and adds his own voice on what really happened there.

Here is a summary in English:

-Most western news media presented Hamas as evil people and Fatah as nice people and attributed, in their titles, the responsibility to Hamas, despite the gap between the information in the articles to which the titles refer and the titles.
Indeed, even the most damning title for Hamas from the French newspaper Liberation 'Hamas gunmen target the crowd' does not match the article in which the reporter writes that such an information was given by Fatah while Hamas affirmed that its members were provoked by Fatah. Le Monde's correspondant in Jerusalem is more cautious. Despite the title 'Hamas members shoot Fatah's who were celebrating Arafat's third anniversary death', the article tells us that the 'fighting started at the end of the gathering without known reason. Some protesters started to throw stones on members of the Hamas security who retaliated. Hamas accused Fatah of posting snipers on the roofs to shoot the members of the executive branch of Hamas.

-An interesting analysis published in English and signed by Tony Sayegh gives us a totally different version of the events.

It has been a while since the last US-sponsored, color-coded “revolution.” But that does not mean that Elliott Abrams and Condoleezza Rice have stopped trying.

Just a few days ago, several trucks made their way into the Gaza Strip with the help of Israel. On board supposedly were food supplies for the starving population. However, upon inspection the cargo turned out to be 45,000 yellow Fatah flags and an equal number of baseball caps with Fatah logo on them and kafiyyahs to complement the ensemble.

Hamas could have confiscated these supplies, since it knew what they were intended for. But it decided to let Fatah receive the implements of what was intended as a yellow color-coded mass rally against Hamas. The occasion chosen was the third anniversary of Arafat’s death.

Two observations are in order. In the past two years, when Fatah controlled the Gaza Strip, nothing comparable was organized in Arafat’s memory. The other point is that this organized rally was much larger than any rallies in the West Bank, which Abbas and his cohorts still control.

To Hamas’ credit it gave permission to hold the rally, even though Hamas is totally forbidden from holding even a rally of two dozen people in the West Bank. When Hamas supporters attempted to organize a small protest in Al-Najah University in Nablus, they were beaten up by Abbas’ thugs, some were imprisoned and many expelled from the university.

The Gaza rally almost ended peacefully as was agreed upon with the police. But this was not the plan all along. The plan was to provoke Hamas and instigate violence, and this was what happened. A few supporters of the former Fatah warlords in Gaza opened fire on some of the civilians and on the Hamas security. The idea was to create chaos and to blame the killing on the Hamas police; classic USraeli tactics. Several Hamas policemen were injured and six or seven civilians were killed.

To their credit, the English press like The Guardian and The Independant were more cautious.

Six die in clashes as Fatah emerges onto streets of Gaza

Five killed during Arafat rally

And for a perspective on the clashes from Hamas's point of view:

Hamas holds Fatah leadership fully responsible for Gaza events

Gresh concludes that both Fatah and Hamas are responsible for the deterioration of everyday life for Palestinians while Israel, the main culprit, continues to increase pressure on Gaza with defence minister, Ehud Barak, announcing on November 12th that Israel will step up an ongoing electricity blockade on Gaza.

Conclusion: With the clashes between Fatah and Hamas and sensationalist western titles about them, the news of the garotting of the Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of Israel went totally unnoticed in the media.

Forgetting Gaza

This is a link to a special page on Gaza from The Guardian.

Under external pressure from Israel and the international community, and internal pressure from Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas who adopted the international community's coercive position against Hamas to get rid of it as Fatah's main political competitor for power, Palestinians in Gaza are suffocating.

Gaza is looking more and more like the Warsaw Ghetto, no electricity, no food, no medical care, and violence is rising. If you look at the video titled 'medical Emergency', part 1 of a three parts series on Gaza by Clancy Chassay for The Guardian, you will see at one point the camera focusing on a child while adults are screaming of despair.

I wouldn't like being in Gaza right now, let alone being a child there.

Law and Order in Gaza, thanks to Hamas

Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondant held by a radical Djihadist group, is freed today by the efforts of Hamas, two weeks only since Hamas took control of the Gaza strip.
Israeli collaborators from Fatah are bitter and angry. There may be some Logic beyond Politics, according to The Guardian account of Johnston's liberation. Israel and Fatah, encouraged by the international community, planted chaos and anarchy in Gaza in order to undermine the image of the Hamas government. But the anarchy went to such lenght that Hamas did not have a choice but to get rid of collaborationnist elements in the Gaza strip.
Now that they control Gaza, Hamas can prove what they are capable of. Johnston's liberation is a good sign.

For Moïn Rabbani, expert on Palestinian Politics for the International Crisis Group, Johnston's liberation is a ''major accomplishment for Hamas''. ''It is a success, even in the eyes of Palestinians themselves whose major everyday concern is security. Hamas has shown the public opinion it is more apt to bring security and order to the people.'' Mr. Rabbani doubts however that these news will affect in any way the stance of the international community towards Hamas. ''The international community and the Quartet have only one objective: Get rid of Hamas even though they are able to bring security to the Palestinian people.''

Fatah, already irrelevant to the Palestinian people, may become irrelevant also for Israel and the international community. This day will come...but this day, the international community, if it pursues its isolation of Hamas, will have also transformed Hamas into another irrelevant Palestinian organisation, and the Palestinian people will have nobody to speak for them...

Other links on the story

Extensive reporting and background on the clan who kidnapped Johnston from der Spiegel

Here is an account on his blog of the atmosphere prevailing before the release at Hamas quarters in Gaza from journalist Charles Levinson.

Comment: Khalid Mish'aal

Read how Dahlan, resigned only in July 2007 from the post of the responsible for security for Fatah in Gaza, talked to Israelis about slaughtering Arafat. The documents were found in Gaza by Hamas after Fatah lost the war against Hamas and had to flee.

Dahlan, a Fatah Washington and Israel's ally, seems to have prolonged Alan Johnston's captivity.

Read the story of Said El-Atabeh the most veteran of Palestinian prisoners in Israel's jails, imprisoned since 1977.

What remains of Palestinian resistance should be preserved by new means

I am in a small village in Turkey near Ephesus. Tired of traveling the roads and the sea for more than two weeks, we are relaxing. In the library of the small hotel a nostalgic and beautiful Greek music is playing. Everything is nostalgic here including the setting of the village which is really like my native village in Lebanon, the food, and even the small community, Turkish from Thessaloniki who came here after the original Greek community of the village was displaced in the 1920s.

I opened my news links this morning. The situation in Palestine really depressed me. What became of Fatah and the Palestinian resistance is sad and what will come out from the Hamas takeover will be even more dramatic. Israel will declare Gaza al Qaida territory; Palestinians who will resist will be eliminated in the name of the 'war on terror' and the rest will have to collaborate with the occupier.
I don't mind the elimination of Fatah because they have become irrelevant to the struggle of the Palestinian people since the Oslo process. But I have been dreaming for an outcome for the Palestinians in these difficult times and I think there is only one logical solution left that can counter the implacable logic of the 'war on terror' which is killing resistance movements and especially the Palestinian ones. This solution is to renounce violence and to resist by other means. Non violence does not mean the end of resistance if adequate actions are taken. One of them for Hamas, now that they are rid of collaborationnist Fatah elements and spies for Israel, will be to declare it renounces violence. On the other hand Hamas should declare they will never recognize Israel as it is now eating Palestinian territories from everywhere and making the two state solution practically impossible. Hamas should do the contrary of it has been doing until now; fight by legitimate means the recognition of the state of Israel in its present borders and renounce completely violence. The region has had enough violence. Hamas has the power now over a small Palestinian territory and they should show the world what Palestinian resistance is about; it should be about community and nation building and civil and legal resistance. I am quite convinced that it is the only logical solution to save what remains of Palestinian resistance...

UPDATE, June 24th: Hamas war chief reveals his plan for Gaza in an interview with the Observer.

Alastair Crooke: isolating Hamas was our (Europeans) second biggest mistake in the ME, the Iraq war was the number one mistake.

The last Fatah fighters in Gaza dream of fleeing to Israel

A Gaza, les derniers vaincus du Fatah rêvent de fuir vers Israël
LE MONDE | 20.06.07

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Pris au piège de sa victoire, le Hamas cherche à éviter l'isolement total de la bande de Gaza
LE MONDE | 22.06.07

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Current events in Gaza and the western Politic of isolation

The politic of isolation practiced by the US, Israel, and largely the EU, against the democratically elected Hamas government, has a direct responsibility in what is happening now in Gaza. This is the opinion of international experts, French, Norwegian and of the UN special coordinator for the peace process in Israel/Palestine.

International hypocrisy (In French)

Video

Le Hamas se félicite d'avoir libéré la bande de Gaza "des hordes des traîtres"
LEMONDE.FR | 15.06.07

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Gaza: The Jailed State

Found on Pierre Tristam's Candide's Notebooks. This article was published originally in the New Statesman on May 28th.

A dark portrait of occupation and of a popualtion's descent into hell. Go the end of the original article in the New Statesman to read the readers comments.

Key dates in history of the Gaza Strip. Note that this chronology, published at the end of the article, omits 1948 and can potentially mislead people into thinking that Gaza was an Egyptian territory and never a Palestinian one. Before 1949, Gaza had some 45 Palestinian villages

1949 Egypt occupies strip following 1948 Arab-Israeli War

1956 Occupied by Israel after Suez War, in which Israel, France and Britain attack Egypt. International pressure forces Israel to withdraw in 1957

1967 Recaptured by Israel in Six Day War. United Nations calls on Israel to withdraw

1970 First Jewish settlement in Gaza

1987 First Intifada. Hamas is formed

1993 Oslo Accords. First Intifada ends. Palestinian Authority takes control of strip

2000 Ariel Sharon visits al-Aqsa Mosque, sparking the Second Intifada

2005 Israel withdraws troops but maintains control of the strip's borders and airspace

2006 Hamas wins elections. Crippling economic sanctions imposed on new government because of its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel. Clashes between Hamas and Fatah militants become commonplace

2007 Fatah and Hamas form unity government but fail to prevent factional fighting. Israeli air strikes continue to kill civilians.

BLOG: Tabula Gaza
In French: Le désarroi des Palestiniens, Gilles Paris, Le Monde

The Hamas Government: One Year ON

Read the account of Laila El-Haddad, Palestinian journalist and blogger.