Nobody Loves Gaza

This new development wherein Hamas offers a truce with Israel smells suspiciously like Egypt. As usual, the headline is striking: Hamas Offers Gaza Truce with Israel. Everyone is thinking, fuck yeah! Finally! But when you've seen headlines like this over and over, you become skeptical. The first thing to be done when investigating the truth of such headlines is to find out where the information is coming from. In this case, the news is straight from Reuter's Cairo correspondent. Hm.

Then, one must consider the recent events preceding the headline. In this case, former president Jimmy Carter just ended a peacekeeping mission to Gaza which was declared unsuccessful by West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leaders. But suddenly Egypt has the solution: just stop shooting at each other.

Thirdly, and most importantly, does Egypt have a stake in this thing?

The Egyptian intelligence chief, who is in regular contact with the Israelis, has been trying to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hamas, especially since Palestinians broke through the border with Egypt in January to escape a long Israeli siege.

Oh, ok. So Egypt is like, shitshit we're being overrun by penniless refugees! How can we get this to stop?

And, what does this actually mean?

A Palestinian official close to the talks said the Hamas delegation would tell Suleiman it is prepared to accept the idea of a staged truce, starting with Gaza only.

A nameless official affiliated with which Palestinian faction? Oh right, we don't know. And when is Hamas going to tell Egypt they like this truce? Again, we don't know. What have we actually learned so far? That Egypt would like refugees from Gaza to stop pouring into their country, thank you very much.

And, finally, what Israel has to say about this:

"We are not holding our breath," a senior Israeli official said.

And:

Israel has said it is not negotiating a truce with Hamas but would have no reason to launch attacks on the Gaza Strip if rocket fire from the territory ceased.

Do I detect a hint of smugness here? You can almost see them shrugging their shoulders. Israel knows very well they have superior resources and control of Gaza's port. In the short run, they don't have enough of a motivation for a truce.

Blair Puts Hamas' Words on Menu, Delicious

Photo by blhphotography.

"Palestine," a shaky distinction to begin with, is becoming even further divided. With the West Bank and Gaza being separated from each other by miles of Israeli checkpoints and being run by two different governments, it's becoming even harder to call them one country.

Middle East envoy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair dangled a carrot to Hamas on Monday. He told the press, "It's worth repeating on behalf of the international community that if the situation could only change there, there would also be an enormous desire to help people in Gaza too, not just people in the West Bank." It's widely known that to receive aid and to stop getting the cold shoulder from the West, Hamas must do two things: renounce violence, and recognize Israel.

The West Bank, run by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has experienced some economic growth due in part to making friends with the West and recognizing Israel's right to exist. The same cannot be said for Hamas-led Gaza, which split completely from the West Bank last June when Hamas took control of the presidential compound in Gaza.

I think it's gone too far for Hamas to do a 180 without some way to save face. Recognizing Israel's right to exist at this point is tantamount to eating their words, a fate worse than death. With accomplished and talented people like Tony Blair and Nobel Peace Prize winner former president Carter working on this, they should be able to think of a creative way for all sides to maintain some dignity.