Analysis: Gaza arrangement begins to take shape

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST

A week after Operation Pillar of Defense ended, an arrangement between Israel and Hamas is beginning to taking shape.

With the Egyptians acting as intermediaries, the setup has seen all terror factions in Gaza, without exception, committing themselves to the cease-fire, from the ruling Hamas regime to Islamic Jihad (which is as well-armed as Hamas), down to the smaller Popular Resistance Committees and the al- Qaida-inspired jihadi groups.

Under the new terms, the IDF will patrol its side of the border with Gaza, and carry out vital border security missions free from all attacks.

Terror factions will not activate bomb-filled tunnels, set off explosives on the border or fire guided missiles and mortars at IDF forces. This ensures that the IDF can secure the hazardous frontier free from hostile fire. It is as important a condition for the cease-fire as the cessation of terrorist rocket fire on the South.

The IDF, for its part, has stiffened its rules of engagement.

It will not freely order an air strike unless it is absolutely certain that a rocket will be fired at Israel in the immediate future.

Additionally, Gazan farmers will be allowed to work their fields up to a hundred meters from the border. In the past, the IDF forbade Gazans from approaching the 300-meter zone near the border. This easing of conditions only applies to unarmed civilians.

No gunmen, including Hamas police, can approach the fence under any circumstances.

In case of violent disturbances, IDF soldiers will call out warnings, and if rioters continue to try to cross or damage the fence, soldiers will open fire at the rioters’ legs.

IDF officials believe that the arrangement is far from being sealed in cement, but note that it is in Hamas’s self-interest to enforce it. The entire setup is predicated on the cessation of all terrorist activity from the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas will seek to continue to rely on its extensive network of smuggling tunnels to bring in arms and commercial goods.

It will be up to the governments in Jerusalem and Cairo to try and hammer out an effective arrangement on Hamas’s rearmament efforts.

November 29, 2012 | 19 Comments »

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19 Comments / 19 Comments

  1. Canadian Otter, do you really believe that Europe, this festering cesspool, would ever quit the UN in the name of Western civilization? And after 1939-1945, is Europe really a poster-child for Western civilization?

  2. @ yamit82:
    Quitting the UN. – My heart says yes, but I’d like to know the legal status of a country not belonging to the UN. Would that mean no limit to what other countries can do to Israel? Until I know the legal ramifications, I’m sitting on the fence.

    What I’d really like to see is a bunch of western countries quit the UN in unison in the name of Western civilization, and form a separate alliance. But that’s just a dream. The Western ellites are just too corrupt.

    It would make a good plot for a novel, though. I can almost see other countries scrambling to fund their programs – and how they’d do it.

  3. This is just another lull in the on going war–the murdering Arab dogs will use this time to rearm for a much bigger offensive against Israel!

  4. @ yamit82:
    @ Jas Johnson:

    Uncle Nahum, you know I have been crying for the US and her allies to quit the UN.

    It is a worthless body controlled by a bunch of gangster nations while US provides most of the financing.

    Barry Goldwater said many years ago we should get the hell out.

    Tell them to move the headquarters to Siberia, maybe the members will enjoy the night life there.

  5. The UN is corrupt and anti-Semitic beyond redemption. The USA should stop funding it, should kick the UN out of the USA, and level the UN building.

  6. @ Canadian Otter:

    Israel should quit the UN and Ban any UN agency or Reps, NGO’s etc. In Israel. They can get to the Arabs either through Jordan or Egypt.

    That would be My ans. to today’s UN Vote.

  7. The International Court only has jurisdiction if both nations in a dispute allow it to have jurisdiction. The Court has never attempted to enforce any of its’ decisions if one nation didn’t agree with the findings. So if Israel doesn’t give the Court jurisdiction , the outcome of the General Assembly vote means nothing. It certainly cannot prevent Israel from defending itself or from any other action. Iran agreed to allow the Court to have jurisdiction when the US brought a case against it, when they took over the US Embassy in 1980 and held Americans hostage for more than a year. When the decision went against Iran it was ignored with no consequences.

  8. For Pete’s sake, just look at what your govt officials say to you, with total disrespect for your intelligence.

    As Abbas basks in the glory of addressing the United Nations, certain that his bid for PA recognition will obtain overwhelming support, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon says:

    “this is a day of historic defeat for Palestinians and Abbas is a diplomatic terrorist”. Yeah, sure. Just a few days ago the same Israeli government transferred 200 million sheckels to Abbas. To the terrorist.

    MKs Ben Ari and Eldad were trying to burn a Palestinian flag today. They should have been denouncing the ISRAELI government instead.

  9. @ Samuel Fistel:
    There is a serious problem with partial annexation of the land. If a large Arab population is a criterion for disengagement, then the same principle could be applied to other Arab-populated areas of Israel. But that would be unthinkable. The Gaza disengagement is a powerful lesson. ~~~ Perhaps the main issue for consideration should be DEFENSE. Can Israel survive with another Arab Nazi terror state or statelet on its eastern border, so close to its large cities? ~~~ Problems with the Arab presence, the financial cost of welfare and policing, all that is nothing compared to the cost in Jewish lives and money when under constant harassment or attack from an independent state or entity. ~~~ The CITIZENSHIP issue won’t be a problem in the long run if tackled with vision and strategy. There are many legal aspects to it, and alternatives to automatic mass citizenship. A greater danger is and will always be that of independent countries allied or not to superpowers. Example: Iran. Israel can’t attack it because it’s a sovereign nation with powerful friends. But the IDF can go into the PA, if there is a need, and clean up. (The status quo is fatal too, but that’s for another comment.)

  10. Why Gaza will remain quiet for now:

    Egypt, now (and forever) ruled by the Jew-hating Muslim Brotherhood, arranged for Hamas (the Gazan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood) to make a “hudna” with Jewish Israel.

    A “hudna” is a temporary truce established by muslims, after losing a battle with the enemy, to allow the muslims to rebuild and get stronger, until it can defeat the enemy once and for all.

    So Gaza is now in the process of rebuilding and importing more and better rockets than ever.

    Egypt gets to eat its cake and still have it. Egypt has basically annexed Gaza, but declares that Gaza is an integral part of “Falestin” (arabic has no letter “P”). Egypt supposedly controls the above-ground border with Gaza, but turns a blind eye as Hamas builds so many tunnels under that border that it becomes a huge open underpass, suitable for unlimited import of rockets (which is hypocritically referred to as “smuggling”, as if Egypt and Hamas were not cooperating).

    Meanwhile, on the West Bank, 77 year old, fat Mo Abbas, the “President” whose term officially expired years ago, will soon retire and/or die. When this happens, Hamas will take over the West Bank, and Arafat’s PLO will be history.

    The Israeli left (the Hebrew-speaking goyim) are clueless, delusional and suicidal, as always. But Netanyahu and the real Jews understand what is going on. When Hamas takes over the West Bank, any talk of a “peace process” will finally die. Jewish Israel will be free to annex Area C, and revoke citizenship from the Jew-hating, parasitic, Israeli muslims, giving them residency status, and making them ineligible for welfare payments from the Jews (let Jew-hating Qatar, the Jew-hating Saudis, and the bankrupt, Jew-hating EU pay them).

  11. The main problem is NOT the U.N. or the Arabs. The problem is the corrupt, debased, atheist group that leads Israel. Their moral rot prevents them from even telling the simple truth in their own defense. The U.N. Partition plan of 1947 was ILLEGAL because it violated the League of Nations Palestine Mandate. Having failed since 1948 to tell the truth the “Palestinian” lie has now become accepted by everyone. To begin telling the truth now is almost impossible.

  12. An aside:

    It looks like there is a disturbing propaganda campaign from inside the US to instill in the American Public the acceptance of a nuclear armed Iran.
    Check this out:
    http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2012/11/27/can-we-live-with-a-nuclear-armed-iran/

    The public poll results after the debate is 2 to 1 in favour of accepting a nuclear armed Iran.

    Not good. I smell a rat and a large home developed one named ‘Fareed Zakaria’ – this is our enemies destabilizing us but also shows the intention of US policy.
    They aren’t going to stop Iran.

  13. The PM won’t compromise on security, regardless of the United Nations vote outcome today. That’s the headline on Arutz Sheva. The PM says that only days after he eliminated the fence security area between Israel and Gaza terrorists.

    The PM also transferred $200 million sheckels to the PA ahead of the vote. Some people will interpret this as a sign that the PA is on the right track, the track outlined by the international and Israeli elites, leading to full Nazi Arab independence. But before Israel finds it impossible to survive, there are other nightmares ahead.

    GIULIO MEOTTI Exposé: The Day the PA Lands at The Hague – “The day the Palestinian Arabs reach The Hague, Israel will be undermined in the right to defend itself from genocidal attacks – and ultimately its existence iwll be the issue.” – http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12506

  14. IMPRESSIVE COLUMN BY David Greenfield
    (He just updated it from an older column, but it’s timeless and unforgettable.)
    “The Noose Around Israel’s Neck”. ~~~~~ “There is really only one thing you can do when the noose is being placed around your neck. Resist. A noose works by tightening around your neck and cutting off your air or breaking your neck. If you resist the tightening of the noose, you may actually survive. On the other hand if you follow through all the procedures, if you allow your hands to be tied behind your back, and the noose to be fastened around your neck while trusting in the system to do right by you – your death is inevitable.~~~~~For seventeen years Israel has been walking toward the gallows. Its leaders have led it there by the nose ring of international assurances. Its people have been led there by refusing to see what is waiting ahead for them, even while the blood was being cleaned off the streets. Every attempt to reach a peaceful solution, every concession and show of good faith, has only tightened the bonds around its hands and the noose around its neck.~~~~~ Every gesture and agreement Israel has signed has bound it to ever more restrictive terms. And none of them have brought any peace. All they have ever done is set the bar higher for the next round of concessions demanded by the enemy and its aiders and abettors in the next phase of negotiations.~~~~~ This is not a peace process, and it has never been one. It is a public lynching. It is the lynching of a country whose only real crime is that its existence offends the religious fanaticism and prejudices of a billion Muslims, who control much of the world’s oil.” http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-noose-around-israels-neck.html