Son of Death (Uri Avnery)

[regnaD kciN]

And then, suddenly, the war came back.

What happened? Well, Hamas launched rockets against Beersheba in the middle of the ceasefire.

Why? No why. You know how the terrorists are. Bloodthirsty. They can't help it. Just like scorpions.

But it is not so simple.

More here.

[oberliner]

1. Not entirely clear where Uri is going with this

The bit about Deif at the end means what exactly?

[Israeli]

2. Really ?....

....no suprise there oberliner.

Quote from article : "" ALL THIS is, of course, much too complicated for American and European diplomats. They like simple stories. ""

Its not about Deif....its about Bibi .

Quote : "" THE CAIRO talks were near success, or so it seemed. But Binyamin Netanyahu was in trouble. He hid the Egyptian draft agreement for a long ceasefire even from his cabinet colleagues. They learned about it only from the media, which disclosed it from Palestinian sources.

Apparently, the draft said that the blockade would be greatly relaxed, if not officially ended. Talks about the building of a port and airport were to start within a month.

What? What did Israel get out of this? After all the shooting and killing, with 64 Israeli soldiers dead, after all the grandiose speeches about our resounding victory, was that all? No wonder Netanyahu tried to hide the document. """

""" For Netanyahu, whether he knew in advance of the assassination attempt or not, it was a way out of a dilemma. He was in the unfortunate position of many leaders in history who start a war and do not know how to get out of it. """

"" Netanyahu is a gifted marketing man, if nothing else. He promised a lot, and the people believed him and gave him a 77% rating. The Egyptian draft proposal for a permanent ceasefire, though markedly pro-Israel, fell far short of a victory for Israel. It only confirmed that the war ended in a draw. Netanyahu's own cabinet was rebellious, public opinion was souring perceptibly. The resumption of the war got him out of this hole. ""

Now read this :

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-next-elections-liberman-bennett.html

Quote :

"" One thing that is absolutely certain, however, is that Netanyahu will need to spend the next few weeks working out a new path to remain in office, considering all the political threats, old and new alike, that surround him from every side. This time, no one can accuse him of being paranoid. ""

[Israeli]

3. If you are still confused oberliner....

...this might help :

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/.premium-1.611863

Excerpts : ...

It was precisely on the day that was supposed to provide Israel with a kind of “victory photograph” – displaying the body of Mohammed Deif, the arch-terrorist who is responsible for the murder of hundreds of Israelis, being taken to its final resting place – that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to hold a press conference that exposed the cracks at the top of the country’s leadership.

The rather unusual media event, which took place on Wednesday while hostilities raged, and in which the prime minister settled accounts with the ministers in the security cabinet who are riding roughshod over him, had the effect of playing up the weakness and flaws of the accuser himself. Mr. Terror Fighter has been conducting negotiations with Hamas under fire. There has been no deterrence, no definitive resolution and no arrangement. The tailwind Netanyahu enjoyed from the majority in the political establishment during the past few weeks had turned into a hurricane of catcalls.

What’s transpiring in our security cabinet is a splendid farce. Imagine if members of the political leadership of Hamas were to appear in a different television studio every evening, alongside commentators and local reporters, and elaborate on their plans and ideas and insights for waging war against Israel – whether to go for some sort of accord, victory or quiet in return for quiet. We would probably think they were a bunch of senseless, irresponsible clowns, lacking even minimal discipline, and that someone at the top had lost control over his subordinates.

No wonder, then, that Netanyahu has had enough. And the others, by the way, have had enough of him, too. During Operation Protective Edge, he convened the security cabinet 27 times, he said at the press conference this week. (The figure is courtesy of the PM; we didn’t check it.) If he thought that would satisfy the ministers, he was wrong. They are looking toward an election, or elsewhere. Respect for the prime minister, a cornerstone of every governmental culture, has vanished.

The premier’s relations with his coalition partners (particularly Bennett and Lieberman – things with Livni are by and large good) have thus hit a new low, just when unity, cohesion and uniformity of message are needed among the leadership. As soon as the military confrontation ends, the main field of battle will shift to the political arena. There, too, a definitive decision will have to be made: either to dismantle the existing “package” and enter an election campaign, or to arrive at an arrangement that involves passing the 2015 budget and being prepared to spend another year together, however unfortunate that might be.

In his mind’s eye, Netanyahu probably saw the document that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had previously drawn up in Qatar and Turkey. The prime minister had shown it to the ministers, who more or less threw up on it, but in order to avoid a serious diplomatic rift with Washington, it was decided not to make a decision about it. Netanyahu asked the ministers not to speak out against Kerry, but even as some of them made their way home in their cars, the leaks and the quotes and the badmouthing of the secretary of state and the U.S. president filled the airwaves and flooded the social networks. The rest is another layer in the grievous and bitter history of the relations between the White House and the Prime Minister’s Bureau.

[Jefferson23]

4. +1. n/t

[oberliner]

6. It's not clear where Uri was going with his piece

What does he think Israel should be doing?

The piece is very obtuse.

[bemildred]

7. The piece is more about Bibi being stuck than about anybody going anywhere.

And I infer that it's more about what Israel should not be doing, what is not working, than about offering any recipe as to how to proceed. Given the evident fecklessness of the current ruling elites in Israel, that would seem a pointless effort in any case.

[Israeli]

8. Yeah exactly bemildred....

....and it is not Uri that is being " obtuse " in this conversation

[bemildred]

10. I've been wondering for some time now what Martin van Creveld has to say about this debacle.

Six weeks now is it, and no end in sight. Each of these little theatrical wars becomes more degraded in its execution, and more degrading for the IDF to execute.

It is nice to see Uri back in his old form.

Ah, here we go:

Gaza: Israel and Hamas must realise that neither can win

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11008164/Gaza-Israel-and-Hamas-must-realise-that-neither-can-win.html

[oberliner]

9. I agree

That is probably why he is being so obtuse.

[bemildred]

5. Yeah, exactly. nt