Update: Israel, Gaza and Iran in Conflict

In our continuing analysis of the timing and objectives of the parties to the Gaza conflict we note the building pressure by outside nations to convince Israel and Hamas to implement a truce or ceasefire of some kind. As an example Reuters reports an unnamed U.N. spokeswoman urged an immediate ceasefire after telephone consultations with the United States, Russia and the European Union.

Much has been made of the reported civilian deaths in Gaza with a U.N. agency reporting 384 dead of which 84% are military and government personnel. The balance of 62 civilians include those murdered by Hamas security for alleged betrayals of Hamas, including escapees from the destroyed prison. Although some Israeli military personnel have been killed by errant Hamas missles, the majority of the missiles are unaimed or partially aimed in the general area of civilian populations.

In consideration of a potential cease fire any analysis must look for the congruence between the positions of each side as a possible starting point for negotiations. So let us examine the positions of each side.

Israel's stated objectives are a state of peace within secure borders with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Hamas stated objectives are 'the end of the occupation of the Palestinian territories'. This objective requires further analysis to decipher. What are the occupied Palestinian territories. On face we might consider Gaza and the West Bank territories as a possible analog for occupied Palestinian territory. On closer inspection however we realize that Gaza is not now occupied by Israel, and the West Bank area is the former territory of Jordan. But a deeper clue can be found occasionally. As the Wall Street Journals Bret Stephens reports today:

But Hamas knows one big thing, which it labels "resistance" or, for Western audiences, "ending the occupation." Just what that means was made clear by Palestinian cleric Muhsen Abu 'Ita in a televised interview. "The annihilation of the Jews here in Palestine," he said, "is one of the most splendid blessings for Palestine."

It appears that there is no congruence between the positions of the two sides.

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As a side note we can report on the exploits of former Green Party presidential candidate and democratic congresswomen Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. According to a Fox News report she set out by boat on Saturday from Cyprus to bring relief aid to Gaza but was turned back by Israeli forces at sea.
She is quoted as saying:"Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side...... our mission was thwarted by the aggressiveness of the Israeli army". Regrettably a stint in congress was insufficient to inform her of the subtle distinction between an army and a navy. The interaction with the Israeli navy apparently took place on Tuesday. With the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hamas commencing on Friday last week, it is of some curiousity that Ms. Mckinney managed to get to Cyprus and on board a waiting 'aid' boat on Monday in time for a collision at sea on Tuesday.Ms. McKinney was not returned to Congress in 2002 when she lost a primary bid. As the Weekly Standard previously reported:

That is McKinney's explanation for her 2002 primary defeat, and she is sticking to it. But there are other explanations. Her father, Georgia state legislator Billy McKinney, shared his version with an Atlanta television reporter on August 19, 2002, the night before she lost. The reporter had asked Billy McKinney about his daughter's use of a years-old, moth-balled endorsement from former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. Such endorsements were worthless, the elder McKinney replied, because "Jews have bought everybody. Jews." In case the reporter didn't understand, he spelled the word: "J-E-W-S."

It is impossible to be more deprecating of the former congresswoman than her father.