The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (12 Jan --- Evening)

Later Updates: The Israeli Invasion of Gaza (13 January)
Latest Post: "Bring Fatah Into Gaza"
Latest Post: Tony Blair Slams Hamas; His Former Ambassador Slams Blair and Israel


12:40 p.m. Off for downtime: a "holding pattern" day as Israeli Cabinet seems undecided on its next day and Hamas --- through a military strategy of remaining elusive and a political strategy of popping up to make statements --- holds out. While Israel may make out that it is playing "Whack-a-Mole" with the enemy, it is more likely that the Israeli military has a growing concern. Neither moving forward nor backwards, Israeli forces may become a static target for Hamas hit-and-run targets.

I don't think the situation is tenable from an Israeli point of view for many days but, with no political breakthrough, what is their next step?



11:40 p.m. News that Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, insisting that an immediate cease-fire in Gaza "must be observed" prompts the question: what happened, if anything on the diplomatic front? I still have not seen any news out of Cairo.

11:35 p.m. Catching up: Hamas leader (and, for Al Jazeera, "deposed Palestinian prime minister") Ismail Haniya made his second speech during the Gaza conflict, which he promised would "deliver a new future" to the Gazan people: "Victory comes with patience."

11:30 p.m. The Guardian of London has the story of the frustration of doctors at al-Arish hospital in the Sinai in Egypt:

"There are 4,000 injured people just 50km from here," [the surgeon] says quietly. "We're sitting in a very well-equipped hospital with more than 100 doctors on call, ready to deal with more than 400 emergency cases through the week. But they are not coming. We don't know why. We just wait."

11:10 p.m. Ground battles intensifying in Jabaliya and moving southward towards Zeitoun, but still on periphery of Gaza City. More Israeli airstrikes around Rafah.

11:05 p.m. Al Jazeera is all over the Zeitoun massacre story. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev is telling bald-faced lies such as "we didn't have forces operating in this way in the area" and Israeli forces "didn't put members of the family in a house" capped with the line that this is all Hamas propaganda.

Israel did get more than 100 trucks with aid into Gaza but distribution still restricted because of fuel shortages. More than 70 percent of Gazans have no electricity; 1/3 have no running water.

11 p.m. Back after a celebration of the 100th anniversary of a fabulous institution called Fircroft College (more about this later in a separate blog).

8:03 p.m. CNN headline: "U.S. targets nuclear proliferation network". Ah, good, that will mean American sanctions on Israel....

8:01 p.m. Tangential (irrelevant?) development of the day: "EU Proposes Gaza Donor Conference"

8 p.m. Sorry to be a drag, but all hell is breaking loose in Somalia, where Government troops have killed "many" in response to an attack on the Presidential Palace.

7:10 p.m. Al Jazeera: "There are gun battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in the areas of east Jabaliya and Tuffah. We are also hearing eyewitness reports that several houses have been demolished in the north, in Beit Hanoun and in other areas."

6:45 p.m. We've just posted an analysis, "Bring Fatah into Gaza: The Call to Arms in the Washington Post"

6:05 p.m. Iran's Press TV is reporting that Israeli bombardment has hit a clinic and (via Al-Aqsa TV) the al-Dorra children's hospital.

6 p.m. OK, this is getting curious. Not a peep out of Cairo, either on the Mubarak-Sarkozy proposal or on the specific Egyptian-Israeli discussions on control of the border and tunnels in southern Gaza

5:34 p.m. There is a running discussion of the live feed from Gaza City, and the Israeli attempt to redirect it. CNN's take-up of the Ramattan feed can now be watched.

5:23 p.m. I'm going to drop all semblance of objectivity for a minute. This is the disgraceful response --- some might say stonewall, some might say lie --- on the Zeitoun mass killing:

Israel says it has no information of an incident in which 30 people were killed when the house they were placed in by the Army was shelled.

5:05 p.m. President Bush has just finished his last press conference. Best comment: "I hope someone is videotaping this cause it's going to be footage like the bunker scene with Hitler in Downfall."

5:02 p.m. The live feed of the Ramattan News Agency, which we have monitored for the last few days for news from Gaza City, has been redirected to an Israeli television station.

5 p.m. Israel/Gaza time: CNN continues to lead with the humanitarian story, based on the diary of an aid worker, apparently unaware of the jarring juxtaposition with its second story, "Israel breaks off attacks to allow relief supplies into Gaza".

"Bring Fatah into Gaza": The Call to Arms in the Washington Post

Well, you can't accuse the schemers of being subtle. In today's Washington Post, two former Bush Administration officials and a retired general set out the master plan:

When the dust settles in Gaza...American efforts must focus on strengthening the capabilities of the Palestinian party upon whom hope for peace can rest, the Palestinian Authority, and ensuring the stability of the West Bank....American efforts can forge a basis for security between Israelis and Palestinians by developing a professional Palestinian security system that would help inhibit Hamas in the West Bank and eventually allow the PA to reestablish its authority in Gaza.


The authors --- one of whom (Slocombe) was responsible for the disastrous order to disband the Iraqi security forces in June 2003, one of whom (Crouch) was in the midst of the disastrous US policy towards Iraq from 2005 to 2007 --- argue, "The United States already has a framework for supporting this process through the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton." Here's the bit of history that they forget to mention:

In November 2006, Dayton met Dahlan for the first of a long series of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Both men were accompanied by aides. From the outset, says an official who took notes at the meeting, Dayton was pushing two overlapping agendas.

“We need to reform the Palestinian security apparatus,” Dayton said, according to the notes. “But we also need to build up your forces in order to take on Hamas.”

Dahlan replied that, in the long run, Hamas could be defeated only by political means. “But if I am going to confront them,” he added, “I need substantial resources. As things stand, we do not have the capability.”

The US tried to give Dahlan and the Palestinian Authority that capability, only to come unstuck when Hamas won the running battles against Fatah in mid-2007. Eighteen months later, the Israeli attack on Gaza is an opportunity at a do-over of that plan.

Crouch, Slocombe, and Meigs note, of course, that the current Palestinian security force has been put forward in Jenin and Hebron "enforcing order in previously lawless cities", calling for expansion of funding and equipment for the effort. Then they, rather clumsily, shift to Gaza: since an international monitoring force in southern Gaza will not work, "empowering Palestinians to assume security responsibility and continued measures to enhance the Palestinians' ability to keep their side of an agreement should be America's principal contribution to the peace process in the coming months".

Given these folks' track record in Iraq, I am not trembling at the prospect of their success this time. The tragic part is that schemes like this, standing in the way of a cease-fire, are the reason why more Gazans are dying each day.

The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (12 January)

Latest post: Orwellian Press Release of the Day --- The Israeli Consulate and "Waltz with Bashir"
Latest Post: Tony Blair Slams Hamas; His Former Ambassador Slams Blair and Israel
Latest post: A Gaza Diary
Latest Updates: The Israeli Invasion of Gaza (12 Jan. --- Evening)

4:30 p.m. In case anyone cares: in his last press conference as President, George Bush says Hamas has to stop firing rockets into Israel if it wants a cease-fire.

4 p.m. United Nations Human Rights Commissionadopts resolution condemning Gaza offensive and accusing Israel of "grave" human rights violations



3:30 p.m. Heavy gunfire reported in north and east of Gaza.

2:30 p.m. Public relations meets reality: CNN website is noting another three-hour respite from Israeli attacks to allow aid into Gaza, but the lead story is highlighting the diary of an aid worker:

All of Gaza is on the verge of collapse: Most people have no electricity, no running water and inadequate food supplies. Fuel is running low. And only a fraction of aid needed to sustain Gaza's 1.5 million residents is getting in.

2:05 p.m. Israel allows 105 trucks with aid into Gaza. (This compares with about 750/day during truce period.)

2 p.m. Gazan death toll now 905, of whom at least 277 are children and 95 are elderly. More than 90 are women. About 4100 Gazans have been wounded.

12:20 p.m. On BBC Radio 4 this morning, Jeremy Greenstock --- former British Ambassador to the United Nations and the British representative on the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq --- sharply criticised Israeli policy in the Gaza conflict. My colleague Canuckistan has just posted an analysis.

10:22 a.m. Bombardment continues near Rafah.

10 a.m. Israeli reservists now operating in some Gaza City neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, a fascinating --- if you can be fascinated amidst this tragedy --- story of the splits in Israeli Cabinet: it appears that the man in charge of Israel's military, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, is reluctant to expand operations. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is also ready to declare "mission accomplished", but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is pressing for further military moves.

9:15 a.m. Al Jazeera now giving close coverage to Israel's use of white phosphorous, with Ayman Moyheldin reporting on patients suffering from effects and Dr. Moussa el-Haddad, who witnessed use of the bombs, talking about "respiratory distress"

9:04 a.m. Heavy fighting reported overnight in Gaza City's Sheikh Ajleen neighbourhood. Huge plume of smoke above minaret of Gaza City mosque.

9 a.m. Israeli intelligence reportedly calling Gazan residents. Speaking in Arabic, they are "friendly at first", but eventually ask about whereabouts of Hamas fighters.

8:20 a.m. The United Nations Humanitarian Corridor has released the latest report on conditions in Gaza, current to 5 p.m. Gaza time on Sunday:

There is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and for every day that hostilities continue, the cost for the civilian population inevitably intensifies. Only an immediate cease-fire will be able to address the large-scale humanitarian and protection crisis that faces the people of Gaza.

Morning update (8 a.m. Israel/Gaza time): Little change in the overnight pattern, awaiting Monday's Israeli Cabinet meeting. Number of Israeli reservists sent into Gaza unclear. Fewer airstrikes overnight, but heavy bombardment on ground and from sea continued, especially just outside Gaza City, where heavy fighting is reported.  About 20 rockets fired into southern Israel on Sunday.

Gazan death toll is now 898, of whom 45 percent are women and children. Israeli death toll remains 13, of whom 10 are soldiers.

Orwellian Press Release of the Day --- The Israeli Consulate and "Waltz with Bashir"

The Israeli Consul for Media and Public Affairs in New York, David Saranga, has just sent out via Twitter: "Israel's 'Waltz with Bashir' on 1982 Lebanon War, wins Golden Globe for best foreign film".

Here are some comments on Waltz with Bashir, which I am certain have no relevance at all to the current conflict in Gaza:

"The message of the futility of war has rarely been painted with such bold strokes"; "an extraordinary, harrowing, provocative picture"; "will leave its mark forever on the ethics of war films".

Tony Blair Slams Hamas; His Former Ambassador Slams Blair and Israel

 This morning the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 had an interesting contrast in perspectives on the current crisis. First came former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, appearing in his capacity as a Middle Eastern envoy, to criticize Hamas. Then came Blair’s former ambassador to the United Nations and Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who began by criticizing Blair and then went after Israel over the current crisis. In the course of his interview he said that: 

1. that Israel had broken the ceasefire by not opening the border crossings;


2. that Hamas is not a proxy of Iran;


3. that Hamas is not trying to set up a Taliban-style government in Gaza;


4. that Hamas’ unwillingness to accept the existence of Israel was about rhetoric and not about reality;


5. that Israel continues to inflame the situation in the region by constructing illegal settlements;


6. that Israeli domestic politics were also driving the crisis;


7. that Fatah and Islamic Jihad have also been firing rockets;

Greenstock, who has had contacts with Hamas through a charity called Forward Thinking, referred to the precedent of Northern Ireland, noting that Blair had already followed the path of talking with interests that engaged in terrorism.