The Qassam Brigades may have taken credit for today’s shooting attack at Mount Hebron, which killed four Israeli settlers, but the real culprits in the minds of a number of Israeli officials were clear, all Palestinians, everywhere, were really to blame.
“The whole world can see tonight that Israel desires peace while the Palestinians want violence and terror,” declared Israeli MP Ofir Akunis (Likud). Other officials said the attack proved that peace talks were a bad idea and still others called for “retaliation” by announcing massive expansions of settlements in the West Bank.
There are already concerns that the talks will derail the US brokered direct peace talks, though those talks haven’t actually started yet. Even US officials, who remain confident of a peace deal despite all reason, are expressing concern.
Which means this might actually derail the talks before Israel’s settlement expansions get a chance to derail them, and officials from both sides will have to come up with new ways to blame one another for the failed talks, having already both condemned each other already for a failure of talks that hasn’t happened yet based on a settlement expansion that hasn’t happened yet either.
Those “Peace talks” are only for the benefit of those paid by the US the engage in them.
Those “peace talks” only benefit those paid by the US to engage in them.
how is it that when an israeli is murdered all hell is broken loose, its in all the worlds papers but if a palestinian is murdered nary a peep is heard?
Truer words were never spoken.
What are you talking about? Thats not atall true
Excellent summary Jason. The last paragraph says it all. And just think….. talk is cheap.
This almost certainly represents a power struggle within Hamas. Something very very serious is going on in the Hamas organization. This is a clear change of direction, and nearly an insane one. We will hear more in the coming days about a power struggle in Hamas.
How do we know Israelis didn't start all this shooting? ____Maybe this story is BOGUS…and never happened. Do not believe anything that comes out of that place..they make up stories and lie like hell.
We've been BSed for over 60 years now.
Israel has been attacking and killing scores of people in the West Bank, but for the world it is business as usual. Now that there is retaliation, Israel and the world press waste no time in presenting it as an example of the irredeemeable nature of the Palestinians. Maybe the Mossad has had a hand in all of this.
At the very least, I'd argue, Mossad clearly has had a hand in this, because – remember – Mossad killed the leader of Hamas' military wing in Dubai, correct? It would appear that by doing this, they created a power vacuum in the military wing of Hamas which it appears a younger(?) and impatient/brutal/stupid faction has stepped into. Note that Haniyeh and Mashaal seem to have been quiet about this, and Mashaal did not seem to hint at this, I believe, in his major message of several days ago. This act was not in keeping with Hamas' policy/behavior going back several years now. To slaughter a family and then claim that this was an heroic act of 'resistance' and that Israel and the PA should tremble is sheer idiocy, as well as being evil and brutal.
Yes, I think Israel had a lot to do with this via. the assassination in Dubai, and of course in a thousand other ways. Both Obama and Israel knew that pressure was building in the Palestinian community, as Israeli impunity continued and was encouraged under Obama, while Hamas was excluded no matter how responsibly it acted. But Hamas' older and presumably wiser leaders need to speak up and distance themselves from this.
"Which means this [the brutal Palestinian terrorist massacre] might actually derail the talks before Israel’s settlement expansions get a chance to derail them…"
boohoo! Now we can't blame the Israelis for derailing the peace process even though we hold them to a double standard!