Israel Invasion of Gaza

An eye for any eye leaves everyone blind. But it seemed to leave the Palestinians far worse than the Israelis.

Finally it is not a unilateral ceasefire but a bilateral ceasefire and hopefully it will be a long lasting. Palestinian militants agreed Sunday 18 Jan 2009 to a one-week cease-fire against Israel, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said. This meant that both Israel and Hamas as well as all Palestinian factions agreed to the ceasefire. Quite a rare incident considering that just hours before that Hamas had not agreed to even a single Israel soldier in Gaza. At least now there is a week of opportunity for further talk in enhancing and prolonging the ceasefire. It takes two hands to clap, finally we are hearing some clapping.

The Israeli government adopted a resolution that would give its military officers legal protection if they are being accused of war crimes during the Gaza invasion on Sunday 25 Jan 09.

The Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared that "The state of Israel will completely back anyone that acted in its name," and that the soldiers and commanders sent to Gaza need to know that they are safe from the different tribunals.

Israel had assembled a team of legal expert lead by their Justice Minister Daniel Friedman to defend the activities of the Israel Defense Forces that might arise especially military war crime charges or human rights violation charges during its offensive.

Meanwhile UN Chief Ban had demanded an independent investigation into Israeli military actions that damaged U.N. facilities in Gaza. Israel was alleged to have used white phosphorous shells which sparked a massive fire at the U.N. humanitarian compound.

Which brings about an interesting question. What about Hamas? Aren't they as guilty as the Israelis for lobbing rockets into civilian areas for the many years that precede the Israeli's invasion? Aren't they guilty of war crimes? What about the torture of alleged spies for Israel which includes shooting of the knee caps etc? Should Hamas be charged with war crimes and human rights violations as well?

The barely week old fragile and uneasy ceasefire was breached. The Hamas side detonated an explosive device against an Israeli army patrol along the border of Kissufim crossing at about 8 am on Tuesday 27 Jan 09. The fighting that ensues killed one Israeli soldier and wounded 3 more. Due to this incident, Israel closed the border crossings between Israel and Gaza. Hopefully this incident will not escalate into yet another full blown conflict. The peace talks are still continuing separately on both sides. Just hope that the peace talks will bore fruit before the military attacks escalate beyond control.

According to a government official in Jerusalem on Friday Relations with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will be affected on a personal level. The unnamed official claimed that the Turkish Prime Minister violated diplomatic rules of the game but added that this incident does not affect the relations of the two countries. True the Turkey PM violated Diplomatic Rules but Israel's violation of Rules and Regulations can be compiled into an encyclopedia!

"The Turkish prime minister's behaviour was unprecedented. He could very well have done what other Turkish officials have done and make their criticism of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in a proper manner," the official added. I find this statement a joke! Tayyip Erdogan has guts! He does not just wine and dine and just talk like the rest of the Arab leaders that totally do not care for the sufferings of the Palestinians, he act like a man! Behaviour is unprecedented but This is a True Man! I feel that there should be more on such people around and we can start moving the cranky wheels of Peace for Israel and Palestine. But pity he seems to be the only one around at the moment.

Hamas supposed to give an official answer for a permanent truce on 7 Feb 2009. But it seems to be quite a joke. The reports were saying they are haggling with the Egyptians peace makers on whether the truce should be 12 months or 18 months. Goodness! Is that what they call permanent? Seems to be like buying time. Israel can buy time to plant more spies some that the next time they invade Gaza, they can kill more of the senior Hamas Leadership. Hamas on the other hand will gain more time to further the distance of their rockets. The last time round, they managed to increase the distance by two fold. Wonder for a 12 month or 18 month truce, how much further can their rockets go? Seemed that it is really not peace that they are after but some rest before more brutal and cruel fighting. Wonder if the United Nations is really concluding such a truce? Or will there be any leaders with the foresight to ensure that the truce is really permanent? Not 12 months, not 18 mnths but forever and ever? If they really had a truce in the current spirit, I guess the news will be all over of who break the truce, who retaliated back and how many was killed in each side. Each of them will accuse each other of breaking the truce and this will go on and on and on until the next invasion and the process will continue all over again.....