How Abu Mazen buried the Peace Process at the UN

In his speech last week at the UN, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (AKA Abu Mazen) effectively buried, with eloquence dripping with lies, false accusations and outright anti-Semitism, the latest US brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Many long-time observers of Israeli-Palestinian dynamics since 1967 were not surprised. They knew that Abbas, who is considered a “moderate and reasonable” Palestinian leader, was a long-time Nazi sympathizer and apologist, having written a Holocaust denying PhD thesis titled “The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement”. In it he argued that the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust had been exaggerated, claiming that the “few” Jews that were killed by the Nazis were actually the victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot aimed to fuel vengeance against Jews to facilitate their mass extermination.

But his speech in Arabic at the UN last week went beyond anything we’ve heard from him before, at least in public.

Lt Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi wrote this week in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (jcpa.org):

• “Mahmoud Abbas’ speech to the UN General Assembly reflects the political reality that there is no Palestinian partner today for a settlement with Israel based on compromise. 
• He revealed the true face of the Palestinian Authority with its open support for terror as a legitimate tactic. 
• Abbas charged Israel with genocide and blamed Israel for the Islamist terrorism sweeping the region. He never mentioned Hamas terrorism or the thousands of rockets fired at Israel’s cities from Gaza.
• Abbas promised to “maintain the traditions of our national struggle established by the Palestinian [Fatah] Fedayeen”(terrorists) as far back as 1965.”

Halevi continues: “Abbas portrayed Israel as the apex of human evil and as the wellspring of terror, incitement, hatred, and the Islamic radicalism that is sweeping the Middle East and the world at large.

Abbas accused Israel of a “new war” of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people…and of planning another “nakba” (mass expulsion of Palestinians), neglecting to mention any of the terror attacks and the firing of thousands of rockets from Gaza at Israeli cities, strategic facilities, and its international airport. 

Abbas, in his speech, denied any Israeli right to self-defense, and justified the warfare and terror attacks of Hamas and the other Palestinian terror organizations, declaring that “the Palestinian people hold steadfast to their legitimate right to defend themselves against the Israeli war machine and to their legitimate right to resist this colonial, racist Israeli occupation.”

And as if this wasn’t enough, Halevi continues to point out that in the same UN speech Abbas:

• Demanded that Israel pay the full price for its “war crimes”. 
• Claimed that Israel is cultivating “a culture of racism, incitement and hatred”… 
• Attributed terror and the roots of terror to Israel, which, he says, was established in 1948 by expelling innocent and peaceful Palestinians from their homes. 
• Pinned the blame for the phenomenon of Islamic terror, as recently manifested by the Islamic State (ISIS) on Israel when he said: 
• “We, and all the Arab countries, have constantly cautioned about the disastrous consequences of the continuation of the Israeli occupation and the denial of freedom and independence for the people of Palestine. We have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that allowing Israel to act as a state above the law with impunity and absolving it of any accountability or punishment for its policies, aggression and defiance of the international will and legitimacy have absolutely provided fertile ground and an environment conducive for the growth of extremism, hatred and terrorism in our region.” 
• “Confronting the terrorism that plagues our region by groups – such as “ISIL” and others requires much more than military confrontation. 
• What is primarily needed is a comprehensive, credible strategy to dry out the sources of terrorism….It requires, in this context and as a priority, bringing an end to the Israeli occupation of our country, which constitutes in its practices and perpetuation, an abhorrent form of state terrorism and a breeding ground for incitement, tension and hatred”. 

As for the Israel-Palestinian peace process, Abbas made his feelings crystal clear about not continuing the talks, even on the basis of draft agreements reached between Rabin and Arafat in Taba, Egypt in 2001, Ehud Barak and Arafat at Camp David in 2002, Ehud Olmert and himself (!) at Annapolis in 2007 and others, when he loudly declared last week at the UN:

“It is impossible, and I repeat – it is impossible – to return to the cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the substance of the matter and the fundamental question. There is neither credibility nor seriousness in negotiations in which Israel predetermines the results via its settlement activities and the occupation’s brutality”.

 

“There is no meaning or value in negotiations for which the agreed objective is not ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the entire Palestinian Territory occupied in the 1967 war. And, there is no value in negotiations which are not linked to a firm timetable for the implementation of this goal.”

Uh…Mr. Abbas, or Abu Mazen (whatever you prefer) – you may want to reconsider that last statement after looking at the transcripts of the draft agreements mentioned above. Almost all your “fundamental questions” were met, one way or another. 

 

And by the way – did you notice how empty the room at the UN was when you spoke? And how little air time you personally got on American and EU media? Newsflash: After 100 years, the world is not really interested in the Israeli-Palestinian issue any more. If you don’t embrace the current US brokered deal, your successor (assuming Fatah is still in business…) probably will. And what, Abu Mazen, will your legacy be then?

Why did the US bomb "Khorasan"?

This week the US, France and a few Arab countries started bombing ISIS targets in Syria, in addition to the attacks on ISIS in Iraq.

In response, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad AL-Adnani released a statement Monday urging Islamist militants to kill American and French citizens around the world.

But is ISIS really the biggest Islamic-jihad danger to the US? After all, the Obama administration has repeatedly said that ISIS does not present an “immediate threat” to America. And they could be right.

Intelligence officials say the U.S. needs to be on the alert for terror threats from a militant group in Syria -- and it's not ISIS.

Last weekend several US media outlets reported on “Khorasan” an Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization based in Syria, that most analysts say is far more dangerous to the US and Western countries than ISIS.

In what the Wall Street Journal described as the first time an American official publicly acknowledged the group, James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, said that “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger” as the Islamic State.

While the ever growing ISIS continues to seize land to expand its self-proclaimed caliphate, Khorasan has its sights set on attacking the U.S., decisively and repeatedly.

ISIS wants its caliphate and territorial control. Khorasan wants a repeat of 9/11.

Khorasan’s members arrive in large numbers from Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan to exploit the flood of Western jihadists, young men and women, who having been recruited on social media have come to join the fight. They are radicalized  — and possess very valuable passports.

According to the AP, the group was sent to Syria by al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who saw a prime opportunity to recruit Western passport holders. The attraction is that Westerners can board planes back to their homelands more easily.

Led by Muhsin AL-Fadhli, 31, who reportedly had a very close relationship with Osama bin Laden, Khorasan is possibly the most secretive Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. The group has close ties to Al Qaeda’s notorious Yemeni bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, who devised the underwear bomb used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in 2009, and the “shoe bomb” used by convicted terrorist Richard Reid in 2001.

The group's expertise in making undetectable bombs, coupled with the presence of jihadist fighters with Western passports, makes it a significant threat to the US and Western countries.

The group’s leader, Al-Fadhli, is hiding in Syria while procuring powerful bombs from Yemen. The goal in Syria is to find people to detonate the bombs.

Al-Fadhli then, according to the Arab Times, “trains them on how to execute terror operations in the Western countries, focusing mostly on means of public transportation such as trains and airlines".

According to former deputy director of the CIA Mike Morrell, this is what makes the group dangerous. "That is very worrisome because that brings together two pieces of a potential plot in the West," Morell told CBS This Morning. "It brings together Western fighters who have gone to Syria to fight - and are capable of carrying out operations in the West - with this bomb technology that Asiri brings to the table. You put those things together, you have a serious threat."

Just last week, CBS reported that at least two dozen US airports were subjected to enhanced security screenings over fears that Khorasan was targeting the airline industry sooner than predicted.

Al Qaeda affiliate Khorasan and Salafi-Islamist ISIS are dedicated to forcing, by means of terror, the practice of their version of Islam on all who do not believe as they do.

Both are equally dangerous to the Western world. Both must be, in accordance with the current official US policy on ISIS: “degraded and destroyed”.

Which is why the US announced today (Wednesday) that the latest attacks in Syria included strikes on the headquarters of Khorasan, which caused extensive damage and many casualties, possibly including Muhsin Al-Fadhli, the groups charismatic leader.

As of this writing, Wednesday, 9/24 at 2:30PM CST, there is no confirmation of Al-Fadhli's status, or his location.

You can't destroy ISIS with bombs alone

Last week president Obama declared that the objective of the world’s greatest superpower is to “degrade and destroy ISIL” (ISIS)…without putting US military “boots on the ground”. 

Newsflash to the White House: The “degrading” part is easy – knock out a few tanks, some Humvees kill a few thousand fighters, and ISIS is certainly “degraded” in comparison to a few minutes ago. 

“Degrading” makes good television. It provides nights after nights of billowing smoke with pyrotechnics, war correspondents in blue helmets and vests shouting into mics as they flinch with every explosion and finally, a victory speech with the president posing against a backdrop of a burnt out convoy of various vehicles, on a long and winding road, declaring “mission accomplished”, or something like that.

“Destroying” however is far more difficult to accomplish…and even more difficult to prove.

Let’s start with how one defines “destroy”. Does that mean that the US and its allies have killed all 30,000 plus fighters in the ISIS military? 75%? 50%? But 50% does not qualify as “destroyed”, does it? And with most of the ISIS army scattered in mainly urban areas, including cities in both Syria and Iraq, is the US Air Force really going to drop one ton bombs on residential areas – risking a horrible count of innocent dead civilian?

Or is “destroyed” defined as killing or capturing Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the brutal head of ISIS, together with his top lieutenants? Maybe…if you can find and identify him! While Israel proved in the recent Gaza war that the latest electronic warfare devices are generations improved from the ones used just a few years ago, they were almost useless without professional, highly trained and competent human “eyes on the target”. AKA – “boots on the ground”. 

As Stratfor, the “geopolitical intelligence firm that provides strategic analysis and forecasting to individuals and organizations around the world” (www.stratfor.com) noted last week:  “the United States has an array of options when it comes to operations in Syria. These include everything from limited decapitation strikes to a more comprehensive campaign that would target significant concentrations of Islamic State forces, their energy infrastructure, supply depots and logistics networks across Syria and Iraq. But even a more comprehensive campaign would be limited. This is especially true in terms of dislodging Islamic State forces from cities, where the United States will be reluctant to bomb for fear of causing collateral damage (something the Syrian and Iraqi air forces have proved far less worried about).

Because of this, air power alone will not significantly degrade the Islamic State. In fact, air power faces limitations in almost any situation. A ground component will be necessary to make any real progress against the Islamic State.”

From the myriad of talking heads on the Sunday talk shows, as well as Obama’s speech to the nation last Wednesday, we learned that the absolutely necessary “boots on the ground” will come from hastily trained, so-called “moderate” Sunni rebels and members of the long-defunct and dubiously loyal: Free Syrian Army (FSA).

I understand that the FSA promised on their camel’s honor that unlike the last time we provided them with weapons to fight the Assad regime, Hezbollah and the Jihadist groups in Syria, this time these shiny new US weapons will not be immediately sold to the ISIS generals. 

I certainly hope so. Because remember – these are supposed to be our “ground component”, our “boots on the ground” and our “eyes (and laser pointers) on the target” – without which, as we saw above in the Stratfor analysis – the air strikes will not be able to make any real progress against ISIS.

Hamas and ISIS should be treated alike

   In his speech to the nation on Wednesday, President Obama described ISIL (ISIS) as: "a terrorist organization, pure and simple," and said "Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterroism strategy." 

     Hamas, the Jihadist terrorist organization that for 50 days lobbed over 2,000 rockets and mortars at Israel, should be treated exactly the same way. 

     Just like there was no mention of “diplomacy” or “negotiations” in the president’s plan for ISIS on Wednesday, neither should there be any for Hamas. Just as the president’s stated goal is to "degrade and ultimately destroy" ISIL (ISIS) – that too should be the only goal in dealing with Hamas. 

Background: 

     Hamas, an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya ("Islamic Resistance Movement"), was founded in 1987 as the Gaza branch of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric who became an activist in local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. 

     Hamas AKA “the resistance” emerged at the forefront of violent Palestinian terrorism against Israel. The US and the EU consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Its rival party, Fatah, headed by Abu Mazen, and which dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), has renounced violence. Hamas embraces it.

     Hamas first employed suicide bombing, its signature tactic, in April 1993, five months before PLO leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords. The historic pact established limited self-government for parts of the West Bank and Gaza under the PLO.

     Hamas condemned the accords, in which the PLO formally recognized Israel. This is something Hamas, according to its charter and Manifesto (see below) can never accept. 

     Hamas cannot be negotiated with – any more so than ISIS can. However whereas ISIS has global goals of spreading Sunni Islam around the world, abolishing all existing sovereign states and countries in favor of a single global Islamic state, governed according to strict Sharia and ruled by a Caliph-Hamas was established in Gaza by the Muslim Brotherhood for two specific and focused purposes: 

1. To violently remove every last Jew from every part of the modern State of Israel. 
2. To kill all Jews…everywhere. 

     Hard to believe? Here it is in the Hamas Manifesto – the Ten Principles of Faith, which are part of the Hamas charter. Every member must pledge to uphold these ten principles.

The Hamas Manifesto-Ten Principles of Faith 

1. Hamas swears to conduct a holy war over Palestine against the Jews until Allah’s victory is achieved. 
2. The land must be cleaned of the filth and evil of the tyrannical conquerors. 
3. Under the winds of Islam it is possible to have peaceful coexistence with other religious groups. But without Islamic rule over the Dome of the Rock, there can only be hatred, controversy, corruption, and repression. 
4. By command of the Prophet, Muslims might fight the Jews and kill them wherever they are. 
5. Hamas strives to set up an entity wherein Allah is the highest purpose, the Koran is the law, jihad (holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty) is its means, and dying for the sake of Allah is the noblest wish. 
6. Palestine is a holy Islamic entity until the end of time. Therefore, it is non-negotiable and no one can give up any part of it. 
7. It is a personal, religious commandment for every Muslim to engage in the jihad until the land is redeemed. 
8. Hamas opposes any kind of international talks or negotiations as well as any possible peace arrangement. Sovereignty over the land is strictly a religious matter and conducting negotiation over it means giving up some measure of control by (Islam) believers. 
9. The Jews control the media and the world financial institutions. By means of revolution and war, and organizations, such as the Masons, Communists, capitalists, Zionists, Rotary, Lions, Bnai Brith, and the like, they undermine human society as a whole in order to destroy it. By their evil corruption, they try to gain domination of the world by such institutions as the United Nations and its Security Council. More details of their iniquity can be found in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. 
10. Hamas opposes any secular state the PLO would seek to create in Palestine, since by definition it would be anti-Islamic. On the other hand, if the PLO would adopt Islam and follow its flag, then all members would become freedom fighters who would light the fire to consume the enemy.” 

     Take a deep breath and read them again, one at a time…slowly. Now you understand that Hamas was established by the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza for one purpose only: to facilitate the destruction of Israel as the Jewish state and homeland, and kill Jews wherever it can. Currently supported and sponsored by Qatar and Turkey, over the years Hamas has brainwashed and trained thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank to fulfill that singular mission. Anyone who thinks that this single-minded fanatical Jihadi organization can be reasoned with is delusional. 

     The only way, in my opinion, to deal with Hamas is as the US, according to President Obama, plans to deal with ISIS: "degrade and destroy”.

ISIS…be very, very afraid

As noted in this column last week, the latest Israel-Hamas Gaza war is currently in a temporary lull, with most analysts close to the IDF and Hamas expecting it to resume within 60-90 days.

This lull is a good time to take a close look at what has become the greatest threat to the US and Western countries, as well as to Israel: the “new and improved” manifestations of Islamist terrorist groups – and especially ISIS – The Islamic State In Iraq and Sham (the Levant) – now known as IS – The Islamic State. 

Just to be clear – militant groups that opposed Western culture and freedoms, either for ideological, political or religious reasons, have been around for many years.  In 1885, highly decorated British General Charles “Chinese” Gordon was taken and brutally killed during the capture of Khartoum by an Islamist Jihadi force led by the self-proclaimed “Mahdi” Muhammad Ahmed.  General Gordon’s severed head was displayed on a tree for weeks, and his desecrated body was unceremoniously thrown into a well. Sound familiar? 

In the 1920’s, years before the establishment of the State of Israel, Jewish pioneers and long-time residents of Jaffa, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberius suffered casualties during massacres organized by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin El Husseini, who established terrorist groups of religiously motivated “Fedayeen” (“ones who sacrifice themselves”) to terrorize Jews.

Since these various groups have been around, and pretty successfully dealt with over time by different governments in the region…why should we be concerned - very concerned – about ISIS?

Because ISIS is different…and more dangerous…than any terrorist organization the world has ever seen. It is by far the largest, fastest growing, wealthiest (even without its reported massive financial support from Qatar), best led, motivated, equipped and trained terrorist group in history…let me repeat that: In history!

Wikipedia describes ISIS as a “Sunni jihadist group in the Middle East, that in its self-proclaimed status as a caliphate, it claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world. It aspires to bring much of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control, beginning with Iraq, Syria and other territory in the Levant region, which includes Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus and part of southern Turkey. It has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The United Nations has accused the Islamic State of committing "mass atrocities" and war crimes.”

To see what they mean just google “ISIS atrocities”, or “ISIS mass murders”, but be warned – the results will be graphic and sickening.

ISIS is growing daily, attracting young Jihadis from around the world. They clearly state exactly what they plan to do: kill, convert or enslave any non-Muslim they can lay there hands on. And they’ve been doing it with successfully across the vast and growing areas of Syria and Iraq they now control.    

ISIS has mastered the social media with Hollywood caliber recruitment videos, Facebook pages and high quality online publications.

As reported in the Jerusalem Post this week, their new, slick, English language publication, “Dabiq”, which is aimed at recruiting young Muslims in western states, declared, "Islamic State will do everything within its means to continue striking down every apostate who stands as an obstacle on its path towards Palestine."

Denouncing the ineffectiveness of other Arab states and organizations in carrying out the "will of Allah," the magazine vows that, "Its [Islamic State's] actions speak louder than its words and it is only a matter of time and patience before it reaches Palestine to fight the barbaric Jews and kill those of them hiding behind the Gharqad trees – the trees of the Jews."

Just this week, UK Prime Minister James Cameron, cited the threat of Islamic Jihadists with British passports returning from training and indoctrination in Syria, as justification for raising the terrorism threat level of Great Britain to “Severe”, the second highest before “Eminent”.

In reply, an ISIS spokesman claimed that: "The West are idiots and fools. They think we are waiting for them to give us visas to go and attack them or that we will attack with our beards or even Islamic outfits. They think they can distinguish us these days - they are fools and more than that they don't know we can play their game in intelligence. They infiltrated us with those who pretend to be Muslims and we have also penetrated them with those who look like them. Many of the members of (Islamic State) that have come from abroad have come from Europe, from the U.S., from the Middle East and North Africa - all over the world. These are people that are not going to die in battles in Iraq and Syria. Many of these people will go back to their countries of origin, becoming potential leaders or terrorist operatives, which could really become a bigger threat to their own countries."

"We are absolutely aware that there are significant numbers of British nationals involved in terrible crimes, probably in the commission of atrocities, making Jihad with (Islamic State) and other extremist organizations," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC.

Jamal Khashoggi, a long-time expert on al Qaeda who interviewed Osama bin Laden, said that caution and concerns over security may have kept Islamic State from carrying out attacks on Western targets so far.

But under the right conditions it will not hesitate. "If they can blow up a suicide bomber in Times Square this afternoon they'll do it. What is keeping them from doing that is vigilance and security," he said.

"But we have to admit that they are targeting all of us. If they can launch a terrorist attack in Riyadh, New York or London they'll do that."

This week King Abdulla II of Saudi Arabia warned that unless stopped immediately, “I am certain that in a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America". 

That means we should expect ISIS attacks on US soil by November.

Great Britain, Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and most European countries are taking these ISIS threats very seriously and taking action including, but not limited to, revoking passports of citizens who went to join ISIS. I can only hope that the US, with our formidable worldwide capabilities is, too.

  

But if not – then it’s time to be very, very afraid.

Operation Protective Edge: It’s Over…For Now

   On Tuesday, August 26, Israel and Hamas announced that they accepted an Egyptian proposal for an open-ended cease-fire starting immediately. At 7:15 PM Jerusalem time all rocket and mortar fire ceased from Gaza, and Israel stopped attacking militant targets.

   The silence was eerie. No sirens, no explosions on either side, no Iron Dome interceptors streaking skywards, no pillars of fire lighting the Gaza night, no roar of Israeli jets on endless rounds of attack missions or the ominous and unmistakable sounds of  Israeli combat helicopters hovering briefly as they face the target they are about to destroy with devastating air-to-ground missiles.

   The silence was disrupted in Gaza by spontaneous celebrations in the streets, accompanied by festive gunfire in the air. Hamas spokesmen bragged over every loudspeaker in the squares about the “glorious victory” over “the army that no-one else in the world could beat”

  What “Victory?” – When the leaders of Hamas finally crawled out of the bunkers they were cowering in during the war they saw the terrible devastation they had caused. Large areas of the Gaza Strip are in ruins. Whole residential and commercial areas are piles of rubble. Public service buildings are unusable and the hospitals are over-crowded and understaffed. There is almost no electricity or running water. Broken sewage pipes spill raw sewage into the streets.

    A lot of the damage happened in the previous week, and could have been prevented if only Hamas had accepted just one more 24 hour cease-fire extension, to give the negotiators time to reach an interim deal.

   But as predicted in this update last week, the cease-fire was never extended. The rocket fire from Gaza intensified in volume and range, and we saw more use of mortar fire by the terrorists. Last Friday, a mortar shell killed a beautiful; smiling four year old boy, Daniel Tregerman, who was just inches away from reaching the “secure area” inside his home in Kibbutz Nachal Oz.

   As the rocket and mortar barrages continued around the clock, Israel stepped up strikes against the launchers and military targets of both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Israel warned the entire population of Gaza, through thousands of flyers, hacked Palestinian radio and TV broadcasts and direct phone calls to immediately evacuate any building or area where Hamas or Islamic Jihad military activity was taking place, as that area or building will be attacked by the IDF.

   On Sunday and Monday the Israeli air force destroyed several multi-story office and apartment buildings after warning the occupants, because they were being used as terrorist command centers or launch sites.

  In addition, Israel successfully continued to decimate the command structure of the military wing of Hamas through precision targeted killings. One attack targeted Mohammed Deif, the legendary and elusive commander of the Hamas military wing. Hamas announced that while his wife and son were killed when the house they were hiding in was destroyed, there was no information about whether Deif himself was killed or injured. Either way the pinpoint attack on his secret hiding place was a huge psychological blow to the terrorist organization.

   The following day Israel succeeded in eliminating the three most senior military commanders of Hamas directly under Deif.    

   Despite losing their senior command, the rocket fire did not ease up. Over the past weekend more than 200 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, including several towards Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Ben Gurion airport.

   As the cross border attacks continued relentlessly, the Egyptians succeeded in getting all sides (Israel, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the smaller “resistance groups” in Gaza) to agree to a new “cease-fire”. This one will not be time limited, and will be conditioned on absolute “quiet for quiet”.

   As of this writing the new cease-fire has held for 3 days.

  

Here is a summary of the war from August 8 to today:

• Since July 8th, 4,564 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza Strip.
• Most proved to be harmless when of the 3,641 which exploded in Israeli territory only 224 hit residential areas, and the remaining fell in open areas; Iron Dome intercepted over 735.
•  Over 1,300 of the rockets hit the Eshkol Regional Council (Near the Gaza Strip)
• The IDF attacked 5,263 targets across the Gaza Strip, hitting rocket launching sites, arms and munitions factories and warehouses, as well as the homes and offices of Hamas and its local regime.
•  Over 34 attack tunnels were destroyed.
• Palestinian health officials say 2,139 people, 490 children, have been killed 
• Over 980 of them were Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists.
• An estimated 470 of them were children. 
• Over 11,000 were injured. 
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced in the Gaza Strip and roughly 100,000 are homeless.
• Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties because it operates among civilians and uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launch sites for rockets. 
• Israel's death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians – one was a 4-year-old boy.
• Israel's Ministry of Tourism reports that tourism for July dropped by 26 percent from the same period last year.
• Israel's Manufacturers Association estimated the total economic impact on Israeli manufacturers for this round of the conflict at about 1.2 billion shekels. 
•  The agricultural sector has also experienced significant physical damage from the falling projectiles.

   Here are the details of the Egyptian Cease-Fire:

• Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza agree to halt all rocket and mortar fire into Israel. 
•  Israel will stop all military action including air strikes and ground operations.
• Israel agrees to open more of its border crossings with Gaza to allow the easier flow of goods, including humanitarian aid and reconstruction equipment. 
• In a separate, bilateral agreement, Egypt will agree to open its border with Gaza at Rafah.
•  The Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, is expected to take over responsibility for administering Gaza's borders from Hamas. Israel and Egypt hope it will ensure weapons, ammunition and any "dual-use" goods are prevented from entering Gaza. They also expect tight monitoring of imports of construction materials like cement and cast iron to make sure they are used to rebuild or build homes rather than tunnels that have been used to attack Israel.
• The Palestinian Authority will lead coordination of the reconstruction effort in Gaza with international donors, including the European Union, Qatar, Turkey and Norway.
• Israel is expected to narrow the security buffer - a no-go area for Palestinians that runs along the inside of the Gaza border - reducing it from 300 meters to 100 meters if the truce holds. The move will allow Palestinians more access to farm land close to the border.
• Israel will extend the fishing limit off Gaza's coast to six miles from three miles, with the possibility of widening it gradually if the truce holds. Ultimately, the Palestinians want to return to a full 12-mile international allowance. This was also part of the previous ceasefire deal in 2012, and was briefly implemented before being rescinded in March 2013.

Longer term issues to be discussed within one month (If the Cease-fire holds)

• Hamas wants Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners rounded up in the West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Jewish students in June.  Hamas initially denied involvement in the killings, but a senior Hamas official in exile in Turkey last week admitted the group did carry out the attack.
• President Abbas, who heads the Fatah party, wants freedom for long-serving Palestinian prisoners whose release was dropped after the collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
• Israel wants Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza to hand over all body parts and personal effects of Israeli soldiers killed during the war.
• Hamas wants a sea port built in Gaza, allowing goods and people to be ferried in and out of the enclave. Israel has long rejected the plan, but it is possible that progress towards it could be made if there are absolute security guarantees. In antiquity, Gaza was a major port in the eastern Mediterranean, a critical point for spice trading. There have been plans to build a new port since the Oslo peace accords in the mid-1990s, but no progress has been made.
• Hamas wants the un-freezing of funds to allow it to pay 40,000 police, government workers and other administrative staff who have largely been without salaries since late last year. The funds were frozen by the Palestinian Authority.
• Israel has said it wants the full "demilitarization" of Gaza. The United States and European Union have supported the goal, but it remains unclear what it would mean in practice and Hamas has rejected it as unfeasible. It is possible that Israel will raise it again as talks progress.
• The Palestinians also want the airport in Gaza - Yasser Arafat International, which opened in 1998 but was shut down in 2000 after it was bombed by Israel - to be rebuilt.

Bottom Line:

  So what does Hamas have to show for all the devastation, pain and suffering it caused the residents of Gaza in the past two months, with a lofty promise that this struggle is worth the pain because it will: “Break the blockade”, “Build a seaport”, “End the occupation”, “Release the prisoners, “Liberate Jerusalem”, “Get compensation from the donor countries” and more – nothing more than a few more miles of fishing in a very restricted area.

   Two months of death and destruction which brought the people of Gaza exactly back to where they were at the end of the last war in 2012.