Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 23:16 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran The Top 4 Reasons Why Israel Launched Attacks on Gaza this week:
4. Seizing the Initiative in a Changing Middle East
3. Blocking the Palestinian Move in the UN
2. It's Not Iran, But It Will Do
and...
1. Did Someone Say Election Campaign?
2239 GMT: It's been hard to balance the reports of intense bombing and explosions in Gaza with the similar reports from Israel. The clearest reason for this is that most rockets fired from Gaza do not appear to have landed near residences. Contrast this with the explosions in Gaza which are happening in the center of heavily populated areas.
One need look no further than Israel's own IDF Spokesperson Twitter account to see this play out. Below is their latest summary:
Since start of the operation: 300 terrorist sites targeted in #Gaza. +300 rockets struck #Israel. +130 missiles intercepted by Iron Dome
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) November 15, 2012
If this is true, then the number of rockets that have been launched from Gaza are equal to the amount of sites in Gaza that Israel says it has hit. However, the IDF has barely produced any pictures or video of the damage on the groun in Israel. Instead, they have focused on how effective their own airstrikes have been:
Video: IDF targeting rocket launching sites in #Gaza youtu.be/nlWiZeR0OoI #Hamas
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) November 15, 2012
We've contacted IDF's spokesperson and asked them to post more videos from inside Israel. So far we have received no response.
Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 8:41 | Josh Shahryar in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Washington Post front page with BBC Arabic's Jihad Misharawi holding body of his 11-month-old son, killed in Israeli airstrike
Can we talk about the attack?
"There is no safe place. You get some flour, some sugar, some other necessities, and you stay home and you wait the rockets out. Remember the last time they attacked Gaza?
"There were about 400 fighters killed, but 1,100 civilians. There is no safe place for people to hide. Gaza is small and pretty much all just houses. Hamas is running about between them. How do you kill Hamas members without killing civilians?"
Does Hamas care?
"It's an investment, both for the Israelis and Hamas. After this operation is finished --- whatever it is --- Hamas will be stronger, people will feel that Hamas is the one fighting israel and giving martyrs from among its leadership. It's not easy to punish the militants. You can kill a few hundred, but it doesn't hurt them. It's very easy to administer Gaza, it's small, you can do whatever you want with a few thousand men. And Israel has an election so [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will get what he wants."
Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 8:40 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
A timeline from the Institute for Middle East Understanding of events leading up to yesterday's Israeli airstrikes and rocket fire from Gaza:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Following a two-week lull in violence, Israeli soldiers invade Gaza. In the resulting exchange of gunfire with Palestinian fighters, a 12-year-old boy is killed by an Israeli bullet while he plays soccer.
Shortly afterwards, Palestinian fighters blow up a tunnel along the Gaza-Israel frontier, injuring one Israeli soldier.
<
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Iran's Secretary of the National Security Council, Saeed Jalili
1759 GMT: A Death in Detention. Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani has declared that he will deal "firmly" with anyone found guilty of abuse, torture, and/or wrongful behaviour in the case of blogger Sattar Beheshti, who died during interrogation in prison last week.
See Iran Feature: The Last Blog of Sattar Beheshti, Murdered by Security Forces in Prison
1753 GMT: Health Watch. Minister of Health Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, trying to stave off criticism and calls for her impeachment (see 0945 GMT), has declared that Iran has risen from 56th to 20th in the world in medical care in the last 10 years, and that the Islamic Republic is 14th in the world for pharmaceuticals.
Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 6:15 | James Miller in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran See also our live coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict in Gaza, with links to our analysis.
1854 GMT: Syria The Local Coordination Committees claim 95 people have been killed by security forces today, including 45 in Damascus and its suburbs.
1728 GMT: Egypt. An Egyptian army source denies reports that the military is on alert in Sinai. Speaking to Ahram Online, the source also denied earlier rumours that additional troops had been dispatched to the border.
See also Iran Opinion: Sanctions Support Regime's "Internet Repression"
The Latest from Iran (13 November): Admitting a Blogger's Death in Detention
1945 GMT: Nuclear Watch. After weeks of signals, the regime has made its public push for renewed nuclear discussions today.
Iran's lead negotiator Saeed Jalili has called on the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia) to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, stressing Tehran's readiness for talks.
Press TV pointedly calls Jalili "the representative of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei" to emphasise the Supreme Leader's blessing of the announcement.
Jalili spoke in Tehran alongside Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who welcomed “an earliest possible resumption of talks...preferably before the end of the year".
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 11:17 | James Miller in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Israeli military video of the airstrike that killed senior Hamas military commander Ahmed al-Jabari
See also Israel-Palestine Opinion: Why Obama's Re-election Offers Renewed Hope for an Agreement
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Fighting Escalates Near Damascus and in East
Today's live coverage is closed. Follow the story at Thursday's Israel-Palestine Live Coverage: Day 2 of Operation Pillar of Cloud
2228 GMT: Israel-Palestine. The number of rockets fired at Israel may wind up being in the hundreds (it's too early, but clearly many dozens have already been fired), yet the Israel Defense Forces are confident that their missile defense, Iron Dome, is working:
Iron Dome system has so far successfully intercepted 25 rockets fired from #Gaza, aimed at major Israeli cities. #Hamas
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) November 14, 2012
2220 GMT: Israel-Palestine. AlAkhbar reports:
Below are the names of Palestinians in Gaza who have been killed so far in this latest attack by Israel:
1. Ahmed al-Jaabari - Hamas leader - 52 years old
2. Mohammed al-Hams - 28 years old
3. Mohammed Kusaih - 18 years old
4. Esam Abu Meza - 19 years old
5. Heba al-Mashharawi - 19 years old
6. Renan Yousif Arafat - 3 years old
7. Omar al-Mashharawi - 11 months old
8. Mahmoud Abu Sawaween - 62 years old
The death toll is expected to rise even further.
More than 50 have been injured.
Many of the victims appear to be children:
@idfspokesperson These are the people you are killing. #GazaUnderAttack twitter.com/Mohamad_AlAssa…
— وطني سوري (@Mohamad_AlAssad) November 14, 2012
See also EA Video Analysis: Iran Sanctions, Human Rights, and the Nuclear Issue
The choking off of access to essential online technology is punishing a people already subject to relentless oppression by an increasingly totalitarian system. It also signifies the larger problem of the overzealous application of supposedly "smart" sanctions that extends them far beyond their intended targets and dumbs down their effects in flagrantly counterproductive ways.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 6:47 | Matt Sienkiewicz in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Obama has four years to craft a legacy, and there is reason to suspect he wants to include a Nobel Peace Prize with no accomplishment justifying it.
Taking another crack at a tenable two-state solution is as daunting as ever, but the cost is lower than once thought. Furthermore, after this past Tuesday, perhaps Republicans will realize that being superficially “pro-Israel” is irrelevant to the voters they most need to reach. The GOP will not help, but perhaps it will not stand in the way.
