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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israeli Officials: We're Facing Escalation On Gaza Front |
| 2014-06-23 |
| [Ynet] Analysis: Facing pressure from both Paleostinian Authority and Israel, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, is expected to open a front against Israel in the Gazoo Strip, a conflict that is sure to make Islamic organization stronger. Considering the fact the Ramadan month, that is starting in 10 days, was expected to lead to a substantial decrease in IDF arrests and raids, conducted as part of the ongoing effort to find three Israeli teens who were kidnapped a week ago, officials in Israel believe that the operational activity in the West Bank will turn into clandestine intelligence activity. The next stage in this ongoing operation would take place in the Gazoo Strip, they say, and it seems like it would be a lot sooner than previously thought. The bigger picture indicates that Hamas is now in an unclear position. In the past two years, the organization has been suffering from increasing regional isolation. To get out of this isolation, the Hamas leadership decided to take the path of reconciliation. With an attitude of "falling in order to rise again," Hamas has decided to make the following move: "We'll make peace with the Paleostinian Authority, seemingly give up control of Gazoo, wait for the elections, win, and then get the West Bank as well." But reality is always much more complex. The intra-Paleostinian reconciliation is moving very slowly: the crisis over salaries of tens of thousands of Hamas government employees continues, and the mechanism that is supposed to ensure they get paid has yet to be put into motion. At the same time, the Rafah border crossing is still closed, restoring the smuggling tunnels to their former glory remains but a dream, and Hamas' relations with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime in Egypt are worse than ever. Life in Gazoo is difficult, and the pressure on Hamas is only increasing. On the other side, Israel has launched an extensive operation in the West Bank, and has taken advantage of the opportunity that presented itself following the kidnapping to conduct two operations at the same time: locating the kidnappers and kidnapped, while at the same time delivering a powerful blow to Hamas' infrastructure in the West Bank. It doesn't necessarily get Israel any closer to finding the kidnapped teens, but it definitely allows it to use this one-time opportunity to strike institutions, symbols and leaders of the organization, with the international community's support and the roaring silence of the Arab world in the background. And if all of that wasn't enough, Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... came out with a declaration that those who kidnapped the teens are trying to destroy the PA. "We will have a different kind of dialogue" with Hamas, Abbas said. It appears that it's not just Jerusalem that believes Hamas' infrastructure is behind the kidnapping, the PA does as well. And it is likely the dialogue the PA president is talking about will put the Paleostinian reconciliation in danger. This pressure coming from both ends shrinks Hamas' power, increases the pressure on the Islamic organization, and decreases support of it accordingly. As the noose tightens around Hamas' neck, the response from Gazoo is becoming more and more murderous Moslem. Hamas front man Sami Abu Zuhri ...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... said Thursday that the coming days will prove that Hamas has the ability to fight back, implying that the organization has some powerful cards up its sleeve. He is talking about the ever-growing arsenal of rockets Hamas possesses. At present, Hamas is capable of hitting Tel Aviv, and perhaps even north of that, with dozens of rockets. Recent history shows that Hamas emerges from rounds of violence stronger: public support of the organization increases, the understandings reached with Israel make life easier for Paleostinians living in the Strip, and ties with Egypt grow warmer as Cairo mediates between Hamas and Israel. It appears Hamas is at a low point in every possible scenario, with a fake reconciliation and without it, and so Israeli officials believe that another round of violence in the Gazoo Strip is coming, sooner rather than later. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 SW, Why not use a drill to place explosives at varying depths across the frontier? It would make tunneling a more dicey proposition. As an alternative, ground penetrating radar to detect tunnels. It takes a long time to dig a tunnel. Much less time to run a sweep. |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-06-23 15:03 |
| #3 Israel needs to dig a wide, deep canal between Egypt and Gaza. It won't stop the moles but it will make them dig deeper and deeper. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2014-06-23 11:24 |
| #2 But Egypt doesn't control Gaza, JosephMendiola. Israel does....sorta. Egypt just doesn't have to let Gaza exit their illicit tunnels or come through their licit crossing. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2014-06-23 05:52 |
| #1 IIRC HAMAS views Al-Sisi as illegitimate, refusing to acknowledge his ascendancy + formal authority. This infers that Hamas may ultimately question Egypt's right or control oer Gaza??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2014-06-23 01:16 |