US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks tonight about the ceasefire in Gaza
I spoke this morning with Monocle 24's The Globalist --- after last night's rebuff by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a ceasefire but before this evening's apparent agreement to stop fighting --- about the political and military dimensions of the situation in Gaza for Israel, Hamas, the US, Egypt, and other countries.
On a street running along the Gaza City waterfront, three young men --- one armed --- were celebrating. They waved at a man driving by blowing his horn. Above their heads a loudspeaker on a mosque repeated over and over: Allahu Akbar.
Part of the celebration is relief that, hopefully, the eight days and nights of bombing and shelling are now at an end and people can sleep safely. Or sleep at all.
But there is also a mood of victory.
"Israel begged for a ceasefire because it could not stop our rockets," said Adel Mansour, who was without a gun. "They bombed us, they killed our women and children, but they could not stop the resistance. So they had to surrender and agree to stop the assassinations. They learned we cannot be defeated by their bombs."
Statements by Hillary Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night
The US once more returned itself to the margins. For many international actors, Washington is now no more than the backer of West Jerusalem. That leaves the diplomatic space for others --- notably the Egyptians and the Turks --- to try and occupy.
And that in turn not only affects the US position over the Israel-Palestine issue. It will have immediate effects for situations such as the handling of the Syrian crisis and the approach to Iran. And the longer that the fighting and death continues in Gaza, the greater the effect on the Obama Administration's long-term capital --- if it has any --- in the region and beyond.
1935 GMT: The Bedouin civilian who was killed after a rocket attack from Gaza on Eshkol Regional Council has been named as Alayaan Salem al-Nabari from the southern Negev desert.
1931 GMT: Several hours ago, rumours were flying about a possible ceasefire announcement at 1900 GMT. This was subsequently denied by officials on both sides, but the possibility remained. However, things seem far from a ceasefire right now. Al Jazeera English journalist Jacky Rowland reports that there appears to be an "escalation" of attacks on northern Gaza. Speaking to the station she said:
There has been sustained heavy artillery fire coming into the northern Gaza Strip from tanks lined up along the Israeli border.
Citizen journalist @RenaGaza, in Gaza, uploads this audio recording reportedly capturing the sounds of live ammunition, taken about 20 minutes ago:
1857 GMT: Electronic Intifada speaks to workers at the Shifa hospital in Gaza. Ibrahim Jirjawi, a nurse on the orthopedic ward, says:
It's very hard now, with many injured people coming every hour. Women and children outnumbered men, especially with the new wave [of attacks] targeting houses and civilian buildings.
In the last hour, Haaretz reports that Gaza hospitals are reporting severe shortage in medical supplies.
It's more dangerous now than before, and we expect that things will be worse if ground operations start.
1854 GMT: According to IBA Radio, the second person killed after a rocket attack from Gaza on Eshkol Regional Council was a Bedouin civilian. An IDF soldier was also killed in the attack.
1849 GMT: Ceasefire news. The Turkish Foreign Secretary Davutoglu has said:
#FMDavutoglu “ A ceasefire aggrement was reached. The ceasefire will come into effect at midnight” #Gaza
1842 GMT: The IDF tweets that it has attacked an Islamic Jihad site in Gaza, killing Yunis Shaluf, whom they claim "was responsible for rocket fire on Eilat several months ago".
Two teenage brothers have been killed and an unknown number wounded in an Israeli strike on a home near the Rafah border crossing, according to local reports. The names of the dead were given as Ahmad al-Nasasra, 17, and Mohammed al-Nasasra, 15.
This matches other social media reports we've seen, including this picture which was posted on Facebook:
Ahmad and his brother Muhammed AL-Nasasra were murdered...An Israeli missile leveled a home in Rafah
2132 GMT: Amnesty International has called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council "to impose an international arms embargo on Israel, Hamas, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza".
Speaking about the current crisis, Amnesty International’s MENA Deputy Director Ann Harrison also said that the NGO has "serious concerns" that Palestinians are being killed by "indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks by Israeli forces.
2115 GMT: Gaza Watch. According to journalist Thomas Erdbrink, a representative of Gaza's Islamic Jihad has confirmed that Iran gave them rockets --- he said "thank you" on the Islamic Republic's Arabic-language TV channel Al Alam.
2025 GMT: Gaza Watch. Entekhab reports that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has refused permission for Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border.
A Gazan woman in front of a destroyed house in Gaza City today (Photo: Mohammad Salem/Reuters)
Gaza, after all, is a very small place. Pick a point, any point, along its 25-mile coastline, and you’re seven or so miles — never more — from the other side. The other side is where my grandparents were born, in a village that has since become someone else’s country, off limits to me. You call it Israel. I call it the place where the bombs come from. One thundered to earth just now, as I was writing this.
I hear there are children there — like Hiba, Omar, Ranana — who might appreciate the simple textures of a day spent outside, of a sky that beckons and does not bellow. I wonder: would these children trade places with me now? No, I would not wish that upon them. Better yet, let us take a trip together, to some other shore, where there is not a single pockmark — not one.
Since the beginning of the Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday and the rocket fire from Gaza, at least 84 Gazans and three Israelis have been killed. The number of injuries, the vast majority in Gaza, is estimated to be several hundred.
Medical sources indicate at least half of the casualties are civilians. More than a dozen of the dead are children, the youngest only 10 months old. Two of the women killed were pregnant.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 18:28 | ;)
