Palestinian Groups Agree Deal for Return of Israeli Soldier

[liberalpragmatist]

A shred of good news. Hopefully, this report is accurate and doesn't overstate things. And as I'm sure we're all aware, hopeful initiatives in the Middle East tend to come undone just as people are ready to rejoice.

Still, I've got two fingers crossed for this...

Palestinian groups agree deal for return of Israeli
Hamas leaders in Damascus are last obstacle to Gaza ceasefire

Conal Urquhart in Ramallah
Tuesday July 25, 2006
The Guardian

Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have agreed to stop firing rockets at Israel and to free a captured Israeli soldier in a deal brokered by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

The deal, agreed on Sunday, is to halt the rocket attacks in return for a cessation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, and to release Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured on June 25, in exchange for the freeing of Palestinian prisoners at some point in the future.

An adviser to Mr Abbas told the Guardian that all Palestinian politicians were united on the need to free the Israeli soldier and stop all violence in Gaza, but the obstacles were the Israeli government and the Hamas leadership in Damascus.

"The problem is that both Islamic Jihad and Hamas have to seek the advice of their political bureaux in Damascus and we are waiting for their response," he said.

Ibrahim al-Naja, a Hamas minister in Ramallah, told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz: "This initiative was presented in an attempt to alleviate Palestinian suffering, but now it depends on Israel, which is showing no indication yet of its willingness for a ceasefire."

(cont...)

> http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1829959,00.html

[Swede]

1. First good news in two weeks.

This has to stop.

[Tom Joad]

2. There was always the option of negotiations for ending Palestian's

armed response to Israeli aggression. Israel wants no part of that. This is likely to be rejected out of hand. With the blessing of Bush and almost every Dem in Congress.

[Poll_Blind]

3. I've been seeing reports like this for almost two days now. Not sure...

...what, exactly is going on.

  One thing is for sure, the Israeli military is definitely using the news cover of their attacks in Lebanon to do more butchery in Gaza & the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

  I think that Israel isn't going to be interested in making peace with anyone for any damned reason over anything for the next week at least.

PB

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Good on Abbas!

Now, if the trouble maker in Syria would shut his piehole, perhaps we would see things starting to settle in the area!

[BillZBubb]

5. Maybe if Israel behaved responsibly for once,

we would see things starting to settle in the area. But I won't hold my breath.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Of course, Israel is the ONLY player.

:eyes:

[BillZBubb]

7. Israel is THE ONLY militarily dominant PLAYER in the region

It is the only power in the region that can bomb and kill civilians at will. And it does so regularly. Until Israel truly wants peace, there will be no peace. Right now Israel wants other things more than peace.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. They are not the only ones that have to want peace.

Seems the "Israeli-lasters" keep forgeting that small point!

[michreject]

9. Delusional or what?

region that can bomb and kill civilians at will

You can't be serious. There's more hostile bombs that go off in Israel in a year that any other country in the region, maybe combined.

[Igel]

10. The sheer number of things to quibble with is amazing.

Here's one:
Abbas' adviser: "The problem is that both Islamic Jihad and Hamas have to seek the advice of their political bureaux in Damascus and we are waiting for their response," he said.
Ibrahim al-Naja, a Hamas minister: "This initiative was presented in an attempt to alleviate Palestinian suffering, but now it depends on Israel, which is showing no indication yet of its willingness for a ceasefire."

So Hamas says it's up to Israel, while Abbas' guy is saying that they still haven't heard from Islamist groups. Ah. And hearing the same thing repeated in yet another guise is supposed to make me think something's seriously changed already?

"This has been accepted by Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, and the Hamas political movement but not by Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader in Damascus. Mr Meshal wields considerable power because he controls funds donated by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. The military wing of Hamas, which is holding Cpl Shalit, is particularly dependent on the money from Mr Meshal."

So we have the political vs. military wing business still being pushed, as though there were actually a constellation of organizations voluntarily yet involuntarily all clustered under the name Hamas, with nobody in charge. "Considerable power" apparently has nothing to do with being the nominal head of the organization. I want to believe, I want to believe ... oh, screw it, there's no way in hell I'm believing that. Now, those unicorns I ordered from amazon.com ...

And, finally ...

'Mr Meshal is susceptible to pressure from his host, Syria. "It appears that Syria's main concern is the investigation into the murder of the Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. If Syria could be assured that the investigation does not continue, there are indications that Syria would be willing to be helpful on many issues, not just the release of Israeli soldiers," Mr Abbas's aide said.'

Again, we're back at Syria, with Islamists fronting for a supposedly secular ophthomalogist wannabe dictator, and letting their people get killed to wage jihad to protect a secularist.

I continue to be amazed.

[liberalpragmatist]

11. A political/military split is perfectly believable

Many paramilitary groups have no single head; and that makes sense; when you're operating outside the rules, what makes you think they're going to follow their own ordinary rules? Hamas isn't pleasant anywhere, but most observers, including most Israeli observers, notice a split between the local, WB and Gaza-based Hamas members and the militant wing tied to Damascus.

[Igel]

12. It's plausible.

In this article Mesh'al is the political head, with only limited control over the fellow-traveller military wing.

But in other articles, Haniyeh's at odds with Mesh'al, because the military branch, controlled by Mesh'al, is out of touch with political aspects in the West Bank and Gaza. This prompts the question as to why Haniyeh, with the moderate political branch, stays allied with the military branch.

Thus Mesh'al is neither the political nor the military head of Hamas, and there are two divergent wings under nobody's control that can't stand each other, but everybody still wants to be affiliated with Mesh'al who is, nonetheless, the head of Hamas.

The IRA staged it artfully, although it was merely a convenient fiction; the political and military sides worked hand in glove for years, with few controversies.

Hamas is quasi-incompetent at it. They're trying, but they're failing.