Hamas and its perpetually outstretched olive-branch again--from
Arab News:
[...] For Israel the rockets are important as a pretext to maintain a state of siege against Hamas and wage a low-intensity warfare that creates permanent distraction from the confiscation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements. It also provides a justification for slowing the peace process.
So why doesn't Hamas deprive Israel of its rocket-pretext?
While pro-Israeli pundits in the US and elsewhere are prepared to defend Israel’s actions, many Israelis are no longer buying into their government’s pretexts.
According to a recent Tel Aviv University Poll, cited by the Israeli daily Haaretz on Feb. 27, "Sixty-four percent of Israelis say the government must hold direct talks with the Hamas government in Gaza toward a cease-fire and the release of captive soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit."
The mayor of the Israeli town of Sderot — which borders Gaza and is the main target of rockets — had also told the British newspaper, The Guardian, on Feb. 23, "I would say to Hamas, let’s have a cease-fire. Let’s stop the rockets for the next 10 years and we will see what happens."
I assume he's talking about an actual cessation of the rocket-fire. That wasn't part of the last status quo that Hamas claimed was a "cease-fire."
Hamas was actually first to issue calls for cease-fire. In fact, for years it has held true to a self-declared abstention from carrying out any suicide bombings inside Israel. [...]
And of course it had nothing to do with any of the thwarted attacks. By the way, Arab News has a really vile cartoon at the moment.
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