Fight in Gaza has no clear winners, but one big loser

[cali]

After five days of round-the-clock rocket and missile fire that has left about 120 Palestinians dead and several Israelis injured, the latest bout of fighting in and around the Gaza Strip has produced no clear winners.

But it has yielded a nearly indisputable loser: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who this spring was Israel’s partner in U.S.-brokered peace talks but has now been relegated to bystander status as his two longtime foes once again slug it out.

The sidelining of Abbas reflects the trajectory of a conflict that has marched steadily away from possible negotiated solutions and toward what many here fear may be an eruption of even greater violence as hard-liners on both sides consolidate power.

<snip>

Bitter Abbas aides acknowledge that the president is fast losing relevance, but they say this is what Israel intended all along: hopeless negotiations followed by a fight that would elevate militant Palestinian elements at the expense of relative moderates. The timing, they say, is aimed at derailing a fragile Palestinian reconciliation deal that brought together the various factions, including Hamas, under Abbas’s leadership.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/rockets-from-both-gaza-and-lebanon-strike-israel/2014/07/11/2ee312f2-f558-41ac-a945-e38c73e39abe_story.html

[geek tragedy]

1. There is no peace process, just a dilatory scam

aimed at helping the Israelis continue their dominion over the Palestinians.

Abbas should formally abandon the zombie two-state solution and start demanding that Israel grant all Palestinians citizenship in Israel.

[cali]

3. I agree. That is the only reasonable option left to him.

[Scootaloo]

9. That's pretty much all that's left, isn't it? n/t

[geek tragedy]

11. the truth is always a good place to start.

Bibi has made it explicitly clear that he will never allow a Palestinian state, well then the only solution is a binational one.

Abbas will have to pivot from Palestinian independence to a political marriage with the Israelis, not an easy feat.

[Scootaloo]

15. Abbas has actually threatened exactly that

That he would dissolve the PA and demand israel just go ahead and ":take over" again. of course, I think he's made that threat a few times, so I have doubts about how serious he is.

But... yeah. Israel wants to stretch from sea to river? Go for it, but you're getting the people that come with that territory.

[geek tragedy]

16. I would suspect we'll see a ICJ case brought to declare that Israel has annexed

the West Bank sooner rather than later.

Netanyahu has gone on the record stating that Israel will possess the West Bank forever. Short skip from "permanent possession" to "ownership."

[ellenrr]

17. yes, also I recommend this book:

One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse
by Ali Abunimah

(who also founded the Electronic Intifada web site which is not considered a "legitimate source", altho the NYTimes is. lol- )

[azurnoir]

2. Bibi ended any illusions yesterday

Netanyahu: Gaza conflict proves Israel can’t relinquish control of West Bank

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed to fight Hamas and other Gaza terror groups until Israel was safe from the threat of missile attack, and then launched a highly unusual and extremely bitter verbal assault on would-be peace-brokers, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, who have been urging Israel to relinquish security control of the West Bank to a Palestinian state.

Speaking to the Israeli public on the fourth day of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, which he said has seen Israel attack “over 1,000″ terror targets while sustaining hundreds of rocket attacks from Gaza, Netanyahu vowed that the IDF campaign “will continue until we are sure that Israel’s residents have quiet.” He said that no terrorist target was off-limits, and accused Hamas’s leaders and gunmen of “hiding behind Gaza’s residents” — using them as human shields — and thus being responsible “for any harm that comes to them.”

Amid the current conflict, he elaborated, “I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan” — a reference to the Jordan Valley and the West Bank — as Kerry had urged during a US-led peace effort that collapsed in April.

Citing by name both Kerry and the US security adviser Gen. John Allen, who was charged by the secretary of state to draw up security proposals that the US argued could enable Israel to withdraw from most of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, Netanyahu said passionately, “I told John Kerry and General Allen, the Americans’ expert: We live here, I live here, I know what we need to ensure the security of Israel’s people.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-gaza-conflict-proves-israel-cant-relinquish-control-of-west-bank/

[Fozzledick]

4. So Abbas' decision to torpedo negotiations and support Hamas' terrorism blew up in his face?

What a surprise! This guy just can't seem to do anything right.

[geek tragedy]

5. Enjoying your status as the Afrikaaners of the

middle east I see.

Keep in mind that eventually the US will drop Israel like a hot rock, and then what will you do?

[Fozzledick]

6. You really need to get out of your bubble.

[Scootaloo]

8. Wait, what?

Abbas is Prime Minister of Israel now? when did that happen? Seems it would have been on the news.

[Fozzledick]

10. You seem awfully confused.

As usual.

[Scootaloo]

13. No, i'm afraid that's you Fozzie

Remember? Israel refused to the final prisoner release what they had already agreed to? A release that the negotiations were conditional on? Even when informed it would lead to the breakdown of negotiations? Instead they "offered" a smaller release, in exchange for more concessions from Palestine?

Netanyahu purposefully sunk negotiations by refusing to keep Israel's end of the term, and instead demanded extra terms from Palestine, in exchange for still not meeting its own obligations.

This was well-covered back when it happened. Now it was a few months ago, so maybe you just forgot?

[Fozzledick]

14. Oh yeah, I remember that.

Wasn't that right after one of Abbas' lieutenants bragged about how they had tricked the Israelis into releasing prisoners, and they were planning to walk out as soon as the last batch were released?

And then Abbas himself boasted about how he would never agree to full recognition of Israel, acceptance of the existence of Israel, or a permanent cessation of hostilities. As if he were ever serious about negotiating in the first place. No real point in pretending after that.

[Scootaloo]

7. Wow. WaPo proves how tone deaf it is

it cites 120 people killed... and then says that the real loser in the conflict... is Mahmoud Abbas' political career?

[Fozzledick]

12. They count as a win for Hamas.

At least Hamas thinks so, and Abbas is all good with them now.

[ellenrr]

18. please , 120 people does not convey the tragedy of 750 or 900 injured who

may well die due to no medical treatment.

how many homes destroyed?