Gaza: More Tasteful Video Games

Last Friday we featured the sensitive, thoughtful video-game tribute to the Gaza conflict "Save Israel". Turns out, however, this is only the beginning --- "Jhak" has kindly pointed us to the far more elaborate "Raid Gaza". This time, you're not firing the Qassam rockets at southern Israel but following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's orders: "You get 5 minutes. Eliminate as many Palestinians as possible."

You even get an introductory quote by Olmert, "The parameters of a unilateral solution are to maximize the number of Jews, and to minimize the number of Palestinians." (Yes, it's a real quote.)

The Israeli Invasion of Gaza: Rolling Updates (13 January)

Latest Post: Israel Requests, Bush Responds: The US Abstention on the UN Cease-Fire Resolution
Latest post: The "Violent Semi-Peace" in Iraq

5:10 p.m. A piece of critical information from Al Jazeera: Israeli Ministry of Defense official Amos Gilad still has not gone to Cairo --- he was supposed to be there Monday morning. Analysis is that Israel is sitting back, waiting for Egypt to get agreement from Hamas on conditions that Israel wants on monitoring of the border and tunnels.

Al Jazeera analyst: "Hamas is being asked to raise the white flag."

5:05 p.m. Al Jazeera live shots of Israeli attack helicopters as operations continue around Gaza City and battles in the south of Gaza, with Israel targeting tunnel network. Al Jazeera correspondents project "Phase 3" within 24-48 hours.



4:50 p.m. How to Sit on A Fence: At her confirmation hearings, Secretary of State-elect Hillary Clinton --- in her first comments on the Gaza crisis --- says US must back Israeli security needs but acknowledge Palestinian aspirations.

4:30 p.m. A curious lull in news: CNN website uses the dramatic headline "Israel tanks roll into Gaza City" but fighting still appears to be on periphery of the city. Given pattern of recent days, it will be after dusk when Israel presses forward.

4 p.m. Red Cross president Jakob Kellenberger statement after visit to al Shifa hospital: "It hurts a lot when you've seen what I've just seen....A medical mission in such a conflict has to be perfected. These people cannot wait for days or even hours to be evacuated."

3:15 p.m. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Hamas official Ghazi Hamid expresses optimism about developments in Egypt-Hamas talks in Cairo.

3 p.m. The medical crisis escalates, despite the supposed "humanitarian corridors": 28 clinics, almost half of Gaza's total, are closed, hospitals have only 6-8 hours of electricity each day, and ambulances can't move for fear of being fired upon

2:15 p.m. The head of the Red Cross has arrived for three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including a visit to al Shifa hospital.

1:55 p.m. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights: "At least 85% of the casualties [are] civilian non-combatants." The Center estimates up to 200,000 Gazans, out of a population of 1.5 millions, have been forced out of their homes.

1:40 p.m. Gazan resident Fares Akram in The Independent:

We don't even see Hamas police in the streets. It isn't that they've gone underground, but they are wearing civilian clothes and they don't dare to show their weapons, or drive their blue police cars which are all still parked in the same places they were in when this started.

Not that there is any law and order to enforce. The prisons have been emptied by the bombing and some have taken advantage of the chaos to carry out vengeance killings or to settle clan feuds.

1:35 p.m. Medical clinics run by Christian Aid and the Catholic organisation Caritas were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes on Monday. Meanwhile, less than 200 of the 1200 hospital beds in Egypt reserved for Gazan victims have been filled.

1:15 p.m. Mahmoud Abbas has resurfaced, accusing Israel of trying out to "wipe out" the Palestinian people by refusing to cease-fire in Gaza

11:40 a.m. Sharp and pertinent observation from Al Jazeera analyst: Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has now absented himself from the process and "may well pay the political price" when conflict is over.

11:25 a.m. Two Arab blocs, with total of seven members in Knesset, banned from standing in forthcoming Israeli elections.

11:20 a.m. Division in Israeli Cabinet: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni prefers unilateral Israeli declaration when "objectives are achieved"; Defense Minister Ehud Barak prefers cease-fire; Prime Minsiter Ehud Olmert pressing for more military operations.

11:10 a.m. Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan on Al Jazeera: Hamas representatives in Cairo "have the authority and can make their conclusions" to reach an agreement. Hamas conditions: no acceptance of international forces in Gaza, Israeli withdrawal, full opening of border crossings.

11:00 a.m. Question to Al Jazeera's Ayman Moyheldin: "Are there any quiet, safe places in Gaza now?" Moyheldin: "The short answer to no. There simply are no safe places in Gaza."

11 a.m. Reports of Israeli soldiers wounded, one critically, entering "booby-trapped house".

10:30 a.m. From Mohammed, a blogger in Gaza, about the fighting south of Gaza City:

i noticed a message from areej, my uncle mohammads wifes: the tanks have reached us, theres smoke in the house, please pray for us.

i called her. i could hear explosions just outside, and machine gun fire. just before 2 am, israeli tanks and special forces had entered an area just outside tal al-hawa, near the community college. they'd come up against surprisingly touigh and violent resistance. tanks firing randomly into neighbrhoods. white phosphorous munitions used to cover an aparent retreat. the entire apartment is filled with white smoke, the kids are up, screaming. there seems to be a definite retreat, but they're expecting the worst. they say to please keep praying for their safety and for the resistance. they dont know if they will live.

9:50 a.m. Looks like --- by skill or fortune --- our analysis is on the mark: Ha'aretz reports, "Olmert seeks push in Cairo talks before Gaza op enters third stage".

What we didn't know, however, is that Ministry of Defense official Amos Gilad didn't make it to Cairo on Monday. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak met last night, and Olmert then told a series of foreign leaders that the talks with Egypt would be proceeding.

On a separate track, Hamas leaders arrived in Cairo last night for their own discussions.

Morning update (9:40 a.m. Israel/Gaza time): More of the same on military front, as Israel's bombardment continues and its forces ring Gaza City. Israeli tanks are edging into the city from the northwest and the northeast, approaching Hamas' preventative security building. Heavy fighting in Tal al-Awa, south of the city. In the south, fighting east of Khan Younis; Ayman Moyheldin of Al Jazeera reports that the Israeli bombardment has reduced Rafah "to rubble".

Gazan death toll is now 919; 40 percent of dead are women and children. Israeli death toll is 13, of whom 10 are soldiers.

Israel Requests, Bush Responds: The US Abstention on the UN Cease-Fire Resolution

Enduring America, 10 January: It’s a final legacy for President Bush, refusing to back a cease-fire and effectively green-lighting Israel to carry on with the killing (of both Hamas fighters and civilians) in Gaza. But that leaves a further mystery: who really made the decision to pull away from the resolution?

Answer: it was Bush, even though he had no knowledge of the resolution's language. It was Bush, overruling (and humiliating his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice) carrying out the wishes of the Israeli Government.



In an extraordinarily frank summary on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert set out the process:

[Bush] was taken off the podium [at an event in Philadelphia] and brought to a side room. I spoke with him; I told him: You can't vote for this proposal.

He said: Listen, I don't know, I didn't see, don't know what it says.

I told him: I know, and you can't vote for it!

He then instructed the secretary of state, and she did not vote for it.

Olmert added, "[Rice] was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour."

Juan Cole has a lengthy, provocative analysis of the episode and its significance for US foreign policy.

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.