Just hours before Israel assassinated Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari on Tuesday, he received the draft proposal of a permanent truce agreement with Israel. But Israel approved the airstrike anyways, choosing escalation over resolution.
Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, who helped negotiate the release of Gilad Shalit and maintained contacts with Hamas leaders, said the truce agreement included protocols for maintaining a cease-fire in the case of cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza.
Baskin told Haaretz that senior officials in Israel knew about the pending truce agreement, but nevertheless approved the assassination, presumably knowing it would terminate the truce and escalate the conflict with Gaza.
“I think that they have made a strategic mistake,” Baskin said, “which will cost the lives of quite a number of innocent people on both sides.” He added that Jabari’s assassination “killed the possibility of achieving a truce.”
“This blood could have been spared. Those who made the decision must be judged by the voters, but to my regret they will get more votes because of this,” he added.
“According to Baskin,” Haaretz reports, “during the past two years Jabari internalized the realization that the rounds of hostilities with Israel were beneficial neither to Hamas nor to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and only caused suffering, and several times he acted to prevent firing by Hamas into Israel.”
Even when Hamas was pulled into participating in rocket fire, its rockets would always land in open spaces. “And that was intentional,” Baskin said.
Israel is ruled by the 51% most wealthy, the most pride filled and greedy segment of society.
Such is democracy, in a war-hawk nation with a fake morality.
While I am disgusted by the neo-zio-con likudniks in power, stories like this, highlighting the dissent within Israel against the militarist policies of their government, fill me with hope that right thinking Israelis are standing up and saying NO to occupation and war.
What part of "…to my regret they will get more votes because of this…" did you not understand?
Articles like this are designed to do exactly what you described, "…fill me with hope that right thinking Israelis are standing up," but in fact Israelis are moving further and further to the Likudnik/setter position.
Also note this was not a "mistake" as Baskin claims, but a calculate, deliberate act to forestall real peace. The Israeli government has been doing this kind of thing for years. It's part of the strategy, keep things stirred up so they can steal more Palestinian land and attack the rights of Palestinian citizens and perhaps eventually strip them of their citizenship entirely to avoid the "demographic bomb".
The strategy- how about driving them all out of Gaza and into Egypt? In 2008 there was talk in Israel of a "three-part plan", of which we only saw parts 1- air strikes- and part 2- invasion. Part 3 we didn't see.
But Martin Creveld, a highly respected Israeli military expert, wrote some years ago that the Palestinian population of the West Bank might be driven out with artillery, and wouldn't require more than 10,000 casualties or so among them.
I think you're right, there is a plan- but the plan goes a lot further than just stealing the land. They want a solution to the problem. Might we say, a finishing solution? Put some finality to it.
You're right on, Brother. After they drive the Gazans into the Meditteranean, they'll quickly move the West Bank Palestinians into the desert then they'll nuke Iran.
That will allow them to begin the task of creating Greater Israel, a Jew-only super-power that will crush all the surrounding Middle East nations.
Super-power Israel and Super-power American will eventually enslave the world and live like Kings.
“during the past two years Jabari internalized the realization that the rounds of hostilities with Israel were beneficial neither to Hamas nor to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and only caused suffering, and several times he acted to prevent firing by Hamas into Israel.
Israel don't want any one making or even thinking of making peace Cuz that means
No more land for Israel and that's why president Sadat and Jabari were killed and any
One that would try to make peace would be killed, the firecrackers Hamas fires into
Israeli desert are welcomed by the likes of Netanyahu and barrack to keep the war
Drums going.
cannot be mucking thngs up with a truce, he had to go
Imagine that. Isreal acting as the coward, double-crosser, war criminal that it is. I'm shocked. Simply shocked. Of course, the thing is that the guy they whacked was a moderate and their only contact with Hamas. Perhaps, that was done on purpose so they can claim that they have no one to negotiate with and continue pounding Gaza like the genocidal terrorists that they are.
Yeah…and? If they hadn't killed the guy, they couldn't have justify the slaughter they're inflicting on the civilians of Gaza right now. Duh! It truly doesn't take an Einstein to figure these things out, you know?