How Israel shattered Gaza truce leading to escalating death and tragedy: a timeline

Outbackjack: Ali Abunimah's blog 15/11/12:

Today, 3 Israelis were killed as a result of rocket fire from Gaza.

This came after Israel had killed 13 Palestinians, including 3 children and a woman, and injured 115, including 26 children and 25 women since yesterday, 14 November.

This will be presented by Israel – and sympathetic or careless world media – as another justification for Israel’s attacks on Gaza to stop rocket fire. But this narrative is false.

Where there was calm and an effective truce, Israel chose to shatter it, bringing about the current deadly escalation.

In general, Palestinians fired rockets, or attacked the Israeli army, as a response to Israeli attacks, seeking to avoid escalation and publicly embracing a truce. Take a look at the sequence:

Outbackjack: On 29 October the BBC reported that “Militants in Gaza have fired 26 rockets into Israel, officials say, amid a flare-up in fighting which shattered a brief ceasefire between the two sides. No injuries were reported from the barrage, in the south of the country.” The BBC said that, “It came hours after Israeli aircraft hit targets in Gaza, after militants fired rockets following the killing by Israel of a Gazan who Israel said fired mortars at its troops.”

BBC reporter Jon Donnison said, “It is often difficult to pinpoint when a specific escalation in violence started - both sides will always remember what they see as a previous act of aggression by the other which enables them to justify their attacks as retaliation.” But we can do better than that.

On 4 November, Israeli forces shot dead “an unarmed, mentally unfit man” walking near an Israeli-imposed “buffer” area inside the occupied Gaza Strip.

Yet, after the 28-29 October “flare-up” reported by the BBC, the Israel-based Twitter account @qassamcount, which catalogues projectiles fired from Gaza toward Israel recorded almost no rocket fire. Qassam Count tweeted at 23:56 UTC on 5 November about just one rocket.

The killing of Ahmad Abu Daqqa

On 8 November, Israeli occupation forces made an incursion into the Gaza Strip near al-Qarara villlage northeast of Khan Yunis fatally injuring a child. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR):

They leveled areas of Palestinian land amidst indiscriminate shooting. A few hours later, they moved southwards to ‘Abassan village. They opened fire indiscriminately and leveled areas of Palestinian land. An Israeli helicopter gunship also opened fire at the area. At approximately 16:30, as a result of the indiscriminate shooting by IOF [Israeli occupation forces] military vehicles, 13-year-old Ahmed Younis Khader Abu Daqqa was seriously wounded by a bullet to the abdomen. At the time he was shot, Ahmed had been playing football with his friends in front of his family’s house, located nearly 1,500 meters away from the area where the IOF were present.

Ahmad Abu Daqqa, profiled by The Electronic Intifada’s Rami Almeghari, died of his injuries.

On 9 November, the day after the killing of Ahmad Abu Daqqa:

QassamCount @QassamCount

2 rockets fired from Gaza hit southern Israel
9 Nov 12
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Palestinians attack Israeli army, Israeli army kills civilians

On 10 November, Palestinian resistance fighters attacked an Israeli army jeep near the boundary with Gaza, injuring 4 Israeli occupation soldiers.

Following this, Israel attacked civilian neighborhoods in Gaza. In the ensuing 72 hour period, Israeli forced killed 7 Palestinians. According to PCHR, five of the dead were civilians, including 3 children. Fifty-two others, including 6 women and 12 children were wounded.

“Four of these deaths and 38 of the injuries resulted from an Israeli attack on a football playground in al-Shoja’iya neighborhood east of Gaza City,” PCHR reported.

Not surprisingly, Palestinians fired rockets into Israel, as recorded by “Qassam Count”:

QassamCount @QassamCount

5 more rockets fired from Gaza explode in Israel. 25 rockets today.
11 Nov 12

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QassamCount @QassamCount

Update: 3 more rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel.
11 Nov 12

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Truce talks

Qassam Count records no rockets on 11 November. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that Palestinian factions were in talks over a truce and were keen to see calm restored.

Israel’s Ynet reported on 11 November:

Egyptian Intelligence officials have successfully brokered an end to the current round of escalation in the south, Ynet learned Sunday. No Israeli source has corroborated the report.

The Ynet reported added:

According to senior Egyptian sources, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have agreed to hold their fire if Israel suspends its airstrike on Gaza. > Cairo-based sources said that Israel reportedly agreed not to retaliate over sporadic rocket fire from Gaza, as long as it was sans casualties

Yet on 12 November, two rockets were fired into Israel according to Qassam Count. This came amid two days of air attacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

Truce takes hold

Reuters reported on 13 November:

After five days of mounting violence, Israel and the Palestinians stepped back from the brink of a new war in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, sending signals to each other via Egypt that they would hold their fire unless attacked.

The report added:

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Gaza’s Hamas government, praised the main armed factions in the enclave for agreeing on Monday night to a truce. “They showed a high sense of responsibility by saying they would respect calm should the Israeli occupation also abide by it,” he said.

Israel destroys the truce

Yet Israel was not interested in calm.

On 14 November Israel carried out the extrajudicial killing of Hamas military chief Ahmad al-Jabari.

Reuters noted that the Israeli attack “appeared to end a 24-hour lull in cross-border violence that surged this week.”

The rest is tragic history, some undoubtedly yet to be written in innocent blood.
An Israeli pattern

Israel’s contempt for truces and ceasefires is nothing new. In November 2008, Israel broke a months-long ceasefire, manufacturing a crisis that it then used to justify its December 2008-January 2009 massacre of 1,400 people in Gaza.

Israel has a long, well-documented history of breaking ceasefire after ceasefire, but you would never know it by watching the news or reading, say, The New York Times.

It is also important to keep in mind the context that Israel and Palestinians in Gaza are not symmetrical “sides.” Gaza is a small, impoverished enclave, home to 1.6 million people, some 80 percent of whom are refugees. Gaza is under a tight siege and blockade by Israel, the occupying power.

Outbackjack: New Israeli strikes push Gaza death toll to 42

Two Palestinians were killed in a new Israeli air strike on central Gaza on Saturday, raising the death toll to 42, the emergency services in the territory said.

In a statement, the emergency services announced two deaths in the strike on Deir al-Balah, which came as Israel renewed raids across Gaza, including in Gaza City and Rafah.

At least four people were also wounded in the strike on Deir al-Balah, which followed multiple raids during the day that killed 10 Palestinians, eight of them militants.

Nine Israelis, including four soldiers, were hurt by rocket fire, medics said.

The bloodshed raised to 42 the number of Palestinians killed in just over 72 hours of Israeli air strikes, while 393 were wounded, Gaza's emergency services said.

Over the same period, three Israelis have been killed by rockets and another 18 injured, 10 of them soldiers, police and the army said.

Earlier attacks on Rafah killed five people -- an ambulance worker called Awad Nahal and four Hamas militants.

One of the militants was named as Mukhlis Adwan, but the identities of the other three were not immediately available.

Another three people -- all Hamas members -- were killed in a strike on Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, with security sources naming them as Ali Manameh, Hossam Abdel Jawad and Assaf Gharwish.

Palestinian medics said another man, an Islamic Jihad militant wounded in a strike on Zeitun in Gaza City earlier in the day, died of his injuries. They named him as Mohammed Yassin, 24.

Meanwhile in Israel, nine people were injured by rocket fire today. Four were soldiers who sustained light injuries, the army said, with military sources saying they were "inside a building" at the time.

The military said the incident occurred in the Eshkol regional council area, and Hamas militants claimed the attack, saying they had fired five mortar rounds at a "position" in Reim some eight kilometres from central Gaza.

davidk14: .

What Jack conveniently and consistently leaves out of the timeline is this....

FACT - In 2005, Israel evacuated the entire Gaza and the Palestinian Authority took control. All was calm and the overture was consistent with the peace negotiations. FACT.

Fact - In 2007, Hamas, a militant wing of the 'Muslim Brotherhood' murdered dozens of Palestinian Authority officials and took over complete control of the Gaza. FACT

FACT – Since 2007, thousands of rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israeli civilian targets. FACT

FACT – Hama’s only reason for existence is for the death of Jews and the elimination of Israel. This is consistent with genocide. FACT

FACT – Even though Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel over the last couple of days, Israel re-opened the checkpoint to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. FACT

FACT – Jack supports Hamas, the death of Jews, and the elimination of Israel. Otherwise he would not be supporting Hamas. FACT.

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dave3974: all the idiots in gaza have to do is stop firing rockets and the israelis will go away , no country should have to put up with what israel has .

PigCatcher: I believe that 2 rockets were fired upon Israel from Gaza to start all of this, correct?

If it was me, and someone fired a rocket at my family, I would not only kill the guy who launched the rocket but I would also kill his family, his friends and anybody else that would have supported this guy.

If you ask me, Israel's response here is too soft.

Outbackjack: *Ignores David faKe

Outbackjack: I have shown you a timeline of events but if you choose to ignore it then thats fine.Read all the bullshit in the mainstream media instead.The fact is that a lot of the Israeli leaders themselves are terrorists.There is plenty of info on the net about their murderous acts.

More than 60 years of occupation is a disgrace.

The carnage will stop when the U.S stops funding Israel to the tune of more than $5 billion a year.

billy_piper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TOaxAckFCuQ
Miko Peled, the General's Son. Seattle. Oct. 1, 2012

very informative and factual too. i wont post the videos of dead and dying children as it might give pigcatcher and david feelings of arousal.

billy_piper: "I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state. …the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power….I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain – especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks…" noam chomsky

Outbackjack: “When Israelis in the occupied territories now claim that they have to defend themselves, they are defending themselves in the sense that any military occupier has to defend itself against the population they are crushing. You can't defend yourself when you're militarily occupying someone else's land. That's not defense. Call it what you like, it's not defense.” Chomsky

billy_piper: now that reads alot more like chomsky. what a guy. btw my quote wasn't really noam...

it was uncle albert, i was teasing teh zionist tards on here. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein's_political_views#cite_note-Rowe_2007.2C_p_33-23

billy_piper: "all the idiots in gaza have to do is stop firing rockets and the israelis will go away , no country should have to put up with what israel has ."

socrates?

nellie77: "You cannot continue to victimisize Someone else just because You yourself was once a victim... There has to be a limit... (Edward w. Said)

GeraldTheGnome: A new forum about Gaza, the same old recycled cliches, the same old throw away lines and words everywhere, the same old constant and never ending fighting both in the area and on this site. Be wise, ignore this forum and the one eyed approach to the subject from most of those on all sides whether they live in the conflict regions or not. If you don't know most or all of the story from all sides then don't even type one word on this ill-informed forum.

I know who started it and I don't care, this forum already is continuing down the same predictable path as forums like it before. There's no point in being a part of this and Hamas are not saints in a too-crowded Gaza. Too much information from word go has be cleverly omitted from here so what's the point on feeding the hatred that fills these forums, goodbye.

GeraldTheGnome: Footnote ; Most of those that whinge about it, not most of the population there or most of the people on this site. Gaza has enough problems, this forum and anyone's unbalanced way of thinking there or on here just makes it worse. Conflicts are still caused by dwelling on the past, don't dwell on them. Let's all be good to each other here, innocent people die in conflicts no matter how careful all sides try to avoid that, the more congested the area is the more chance that innocent civilians die (sometimes even by stray fire), that is the problem that Gaza has, big time.

Serabi:
I might be wrong, but I can't remember any suicide Isreali bombers blowing Gaza school busses to smithereens.

Maybe someone with a better memory can recall such an incident.

billy_piper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TOaxAckFCuQ
Miko Peled, the General's Son. Seattle. Oct. 1, 2012

let the generals son tell you about the suicide bombers. dont get upset he's an israeli

Comrade_: Disgusting.

billy_piper: miko has a excellent memory. i wont slin mud regarding shooting children but i am interested to read what the zionists here would like to say in response to einsteins quote and mr peleds statements on racism and zionism such as 'like racism, zionism must be stopped'


care to talk on that? btw peled does also talk about suicide bombers and the fact thats theres been under 200 vs 10 million palestinian citizens.

its hardly like all the arabs are suicide bombers more like a tiny percentage. thats how this israeli soldier explains it...

davidk14: .



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billy_piper: you zionists keep thinking the rest of the planet is pro palestine. YOU BOTH SUCK! if the rest of the world wasn't watching infants dead on both sides im sure we'd be happy to arm you sickos so you can kill one another off.

how about watching the video and commenting on what the israeli soldier is talking about or even comment on albert einsteins quote?

weve seen enough dead children this week you murderous sickos.

we know the terrorists fire rockets from civillian positions with their cameras ready to say 'look civillian casualties' and WE ALSO know youre bombing civillians with phosphorous weapons and shooting children.

grow some balls david and please comment on how einstein thinks zionism is a disgrace aswell as that credit to israel mr peled.

OR would you like this to become a tit for tat youtube extravaganza of dead arab vs dead israeli children?

billy_piper: do us a favor and show us how miko peled is wrong...

billy_piper: pardon my rudeness.

billy_piper: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattityahu_Peled

his father was a great man it seems.

they fought against 3 armies, not children with sticks and rocks, and without apache gunships and phosphorous bombs. quite a different scenario to the shooting fish in a barrel the idf are loving nowadays.

his grand daughter was killed by a suicide bomber and his daughter FORGAVE instead of getting a bloodlust to murder all palestinians. she said as a mother you would forgive as you wouldnt want any mother (even a palestinian) to live with losing a child.

its very sad the pro israelis here cant appreciate what that family went through and voice approval of how decent these israelis are.

while you want to murder everyone including entire families from your armchair thousands of miles away.

why didnt you volunteer in the 60's to protect your holy (CURSED) land.

davidk14: .

Albert Einstein was a freak of nature. What? A Jew calling another Jew a freak? What? How is that? Albert was incredible, a freak of nature in physic's and that was it. He did not even know his own telephone number. Why? He stated that anything that did not have to do with physics, did not interest him and refused to memorize or remember anything of significance other than physic's. So that is my answer to your idiotic question. But then if you knew that, you would have not used Albert as a reference.

Regarding the general's son, he's a moron. His one nation answer would spell the end of Judiasm on this planet. Anyone that wants to end Judism on this planet is a moron. Moron's are born every minute of every day and are not limited to radicals and terrorists. They are also offspring of generals.

Now, what else...hummmm....

billyboy siad:

OR would you like this to become a tit for tat youtube extravaganza of dead arab vs dead israeli children?


David responds:

Well.....don't shoot at Jews and you won't have Jews kicking your ass. Simple.

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