Hamas Rejects Israeli Cease-Fire Demands

Hamas will not accept Israeli conditions for a cease-fire in Gaza and would continue armed resistance until the offensive ends, Khaled Meshal, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group, said on Friday.

Speaking at the opening of an emergency meeting on Gaza in Doha, Meshal called on the leaders present to cut all ties with Israel.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[wendy12]

oh man...i was almost scared id never see the day..but he is so out of here!! check out this hilarious video i found about the
bush administrations legacy to the USA..enjoy­!!
http://effinfunny.com/jimmy-dore%0D/george-bush-legacy

[IsisCat]

And yet hundreds of children are dead.

Whenever somebody starts to talk to me about the rightness of this action or that, or israel's right to defence, I see hundreds of dead children.

No amount of intellectual sidestepping makes that morally correct. Nor does Israel's apology make wash the blood of its hands.

Same for Hamas.

We need to reclaim our planet from those who deal in death and call it politics. Whatever the provocation, raining terror and horror on a whole people is not the answer. All it does is guarantee that future Palestinian and Israeli blood will be spilt.

If only we really understood the cost we pay for generations after the last bullet is fired, perhaps we wouldn't be so quick to pull the trigger.

There should be a line we are adamant never to cross lest we lose our soul. Surely killing children is one of those lines?

[lis60]

Hamas does not want peace. That is what many do not get. If you really gave them everything they say they wanted, they would still fire rockets at Israel and then some.
Read their charter statement and what their real goals are. There goals are not peace and prosperity for the Palestinian people and if you think that, then you really do not understand Hamas at all.
I feel very sorry for the Palestinian people who elected them. I am so sad to see all the innocent people being killed. Read Deepak Chopra's articles on Hamas and the situation. He is one of the only people here on Huffington who really gets the FULL picture: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/how-to-defeat-hamas--face_b_155752.html

[omobob]

Neither you , Deepak Chopra or myself can speak for the Palestinians and their choice of government nor their choice of action. Mr. Chopra is a TV commentator. I am a photographer. We don’t live in a over crowed camp in Gaza. None of us has had our homes demolished, our land stolen. Our gas, food and medicine held back as punishment. Our borders blocked. Our women and children targeted by new gen smart technology, white phosphorus or low density carcinogenic shrapnel. 1,100 in 3 weeks compared to to 22 over six years is not a justifiable nor proportional response. Outsiders talk about what, when and where the Palestinians should do. Their words words lack the moral or historical experience of the people of Gaza, who have suffered and endured since 1967 (40 YEARS) of Israeli occupation on their backs, like the slave masters of old.

[Akin]

Part 1 of 2.

We are all outsiders, including yourself.

And, if you expand those timescales just slightly to the time of Hamas' formation, the casualty figures suddenly climb on both sides.

Your claims to singularity of experience about homes gas & the rest are nonsense - ask anyone who has been foreclosed about homes; ask Ukraine about gas, etc. Does that entitle all these people to not use peaceful, diplomatic means to resolve their disputes, or occasionally seek to move on & make the best of a bad situation? The idea that Palestinians have only one option open to them, regardless of the nature of the foe they seek to oppose, or their chances of success in maintaining a belligerent posture, are unwise, unrealistic & devoid of common sense.

Contd. in Part 2.

[IsisCat]

And yet hundreds of children are dead.

That's the full picture.

[Akin]

I respectfully disagree.

Dead children are really upsetting, but they are NOT the full picture.

Children have been killed in wars throughout history.

Another part of the full picture is to learn from all this that belligerence carries a price tag.

And try to avoid it, rather than revel in it.

That, by the way, is how I live personally.

I don't go around threatening everyone who crosses me, so I cut down the chances of being hurt. I let due process take its course, & sometimes let some stuff go. I choose carefully the battles that are winnable & focus on fighting those using modern societally approved methods with an understanding of those who cross me. I also prefer JAW to WAR (that's why I'm on HuffPo!)

Am I less a man for living like that?

I really feel sad for those families..­. yet I can still allocate some of the responsibility to Hamas' irresponsible attitude as a government in inciting a conflict they could not possibly win. Those rockets are not just criminal, they are silly & should be ditched (does Hamas do Cost-Benefit Analysis?). Then I for one would take their cause a lot more seriously.­..

The IDF & UN should also participate in scrupulous investigations to uncover if crimes of warfare were committed by soldiers or units, and punish any guilty found.

I only support Israel's right to exist & defend itself lawfully & responsibly; like Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot,

"I do not approve of murder".

[deminmo]

According to an article on Haaretz.com IDF were
allegedly posing as Hamas inside Palestine.
Hamas believes they can hold out and possibly
win. Israel has the means to keep going. How far
will Israel take this, and how much help will the US
continue to give to Israel?

[skialethia]

We all know how the boat "The Dignity" was rammed deliberately by the IDFand almost sunk with doctors, medicine and humanitarian aid on board at the beginning of the invasion.

Yesterday, theIDF b o m bed the U.N. storage facility housing humanitarian aid including food, water and medicine as well as the offices of the few International Press who were already stationed in Gaza.

On Wednesday another boat ("The Spirit of Humanity") left Cyprus with humanitarian aid and medicine headed for Gaza. Early Thursday morning, theIDF tried to sink their boat, and threatened that if they didn't turn around they would be fired upon, forcing them to turn around.

Minute 5:35:

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/16/palestinian_father_in_us_recounts_how

Israelmust be held accountable for thesecrimes and the use of ph osphorous b o mbs and DIME b. om bs against areas densely populated with civilians.

[worldwithoutus]

hamas should be glad that israel is willing to trust them again

[justice2all]

Too bad nobody in the neighborhood trusts Israel anymore tho

[Javani]

"Too bad nobody in the neighborhood trusts Israel anymore tho"

There was someone in the "neighborhood" who trusted Israel, and Israel lost it? Who was that?

[skialethia]

"Palestinians seem to demand the right of return as adamantly as Israelis oppose it: 98.7 percent of refugees surveyed in 2001 dismissed compensation in place of return.

The birth rate in the occupied territories is far higher than Israel's. Jews will very soon become a minority in the lands they occupy or ….. and some demographers forecast that in fifteen years they will make up as little as 42 percent of the population in this area.

More troublesome still, a future Palestinian state hemmed in between the Green Line and the Jordan and in the Gaza Strip will face astronomical population growth (the population in Gaza now doubles every generation….

But the Zionist enterprise has never been able to transcend the demographic and geographic realities that have haunted it from its inception.­” The Atlantic May 2005

Israelisare in denial and using their “iron” wall to hold back a tsunami called “demographic reality”.

This demographic reality makes their fear of H am as and their threatening “antiquated charter” a mosquito bite and moot.
It is not Ham as who threaten the existence of Israel; it is reality itself. Israelis are living IN DENIAL and trying to shun reality, and are therefore ruled by desperation and paranoia, and exercising a last ditch brute force and oppression against a people who will burst beyond every wall, iron will and boundary imposed on them.

You can’t use b o m b s to fight reality!!!!

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200505/schwarz

[Freenation]

Nice article must read.... http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/398113?rel=hp_picks

[LALC]

Read yesterday that Hamas would NOT agree to cease-fire because they’d lose too much power in Gaza to Palenst. Author.

Ahmadinejad said Muslim countries should cut ties with US & Israel? Does that include ending the $$ aid we send & our purchases from them, AKA oil..?

Syria's gov. & Assad implcated in the murder of Rafiq Hariri (Lebanese ex-PM), anti-Syrian journalists, 2005! After which Syria forced to end decades long occupation of Lebanon! Assad has some huge b----!

[Big0725]

I thought Hamas has already gathered up and executed the PA upper echelon at the onset of this flare-up.

As for I'm-A-Dinn­er-Jacket, he's all blow and no go.

[Javani]

"Assad has some huge b----!"

I hear you!

Iran's poodle telling the Arabs there will be no more Saudi peace plan.

Of course, he must worry, that Egypt and Saudi will say "enough!" and forced the Palis to a peace deal and leave the Golan Heights out of it.

[LALC]

Javani & Big0725,

never heard I'm-A-Dinner-Jacket or poddle reference. I like em'. I've heard Leno call him I'm-a-nut-job though!

Had some cable line freeze up with these -0 temps!

[batguano]

As another has also posted, here are the demands of Ha mas as published by Haaretz. They do not seem unreasonable under the circumstances. It seems that they have not changed much since Ha mas was elected and Israel put their blockade into effect. The refusal by Israel to even talk to Ha mas lies at the root of this slaughter by the IDF.

According to the report, Hamas has set five conditions for the cease-fire:

1. The reciprocal truce would begin on Saturday and be followed by the immediate transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

2. The Israel Defense Forces must pull all of its troops out of the coastal territory within the first week of the truce.

3. The flow of trade in and out of the Gaza Strip must be renewed and monitored by observers from Egypt, Europe, and Turkey.

4. The Rafah crossing must be reopened and supervised by Palestinian Authority security forces and international observers, until a Palestinian unity government has been established and can take its place.

5. The truce would be instated for one-year with an option for renewal.

Try these pieces for info; http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5776
http://www.progressive.org/mag/avnery010209.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gas_deal_coming_polls_behind_military_operations_in_Gaza/articleshow/3935036.cms
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010702645.html

[GZLives]

You either want to fight terror or you don't.
Apparently most here don't.
Firing rockets and mortars at civilians populations wouldn't be tolerated by any country.

[vinny]

You are obviously just tuning into to world events. Get educated.

Rocket attack data
http://www.themediaoasis.com/Hamasrockets.htm

Salafist movement in Gaza
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL25Ak01.html

Blockade information
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7545636.stm

If someone blockaded my country, I'd fire off some rockets too.

[Javani]

Let me see, you are saying the blockade occurred before the missiles? How come Hamas never claimed this?

[omobob]

Do or die absolutism negates compromise. (You either want to fight terror or you don't.) Compromise can lead to peace. terrorism is a name given to vilify the enemy and make it guilt free to slaughter them. 20 Israelis have been killed since 2003. Is 1,000 (300 children dead) in three works an appropriate response? Why did Israel attack now? They have national elections at the end of this month. Firing white phosphorus into densely populated areas shouldn't be tolerated by any country.

[Ergon]

You either want peace or you do not.
Apparently some here want to hold on to most of the West Bank of the Jordan river, the water resources of the region, and the oil and gas of Gaza.
Killing people who resist that wouldn't be tolerated by normal human beings.

[Javani]

Israel is taking Gaza's oil and gas? That is a stretch. for one, if it had significant such resources, the other producing states would make sure its not developed. Also, Egypt might consider taking Gaza back.

[scooperss]

Guess we know why rice didn't sign the UN resolution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090116/wl_mcclatchy/3146444

"Under the agreement, the outgoing Bush administration pledged to help track and interdict weapons shipments before they reach Gaza , which the militant Palestinian group Hamas has used as launching pad for rocket attacks on Israel .

The deal was being signed Friday in Washington by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , in one of her last official acts in office, and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni .

[VictorShaw]

I don't find this at all surprising. The timing is too much to be coincidence. They know that the new president won't allow such actions. Our ally is voting on a truce proposal tomorrow according to a recent AP article by Ibrahim Barzak and Amy Teibel. Both sides in the conflict knew that the party would be over before 1-20-09. For the life of me, I don't know what was gained by all the bloodshed.

[skialethia]

"For the life of me, I don't know what was gained by all the bloodshed.­"

This was done to achieve the following:

1. A rise in the polls by the party in power (Olmert's), since Netan yahu was winning.

2. Making the 2-state solution peace process much more complex to achieve and presenting a unnecessary added challenge to the new President Obama;

3. Getting rid of a few morePalestinians in the gradual attempt to "cleanse" the area;

4. Attempting to reinstate the occupation to gain control of oil and gas reserves along the Gaza shoreline;

[Freenation]

Daily dose of propaganda by IDF distributed through US mass media:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/europeans_better_pay_up_and_150325.htm

Quote from above article:
"Bush forged his "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. In Afghanistan, Obama needs a "coalition of the killing."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/hang_tough_in_mideast_150326.htm

Another regular neocon at NYPOST opinion board....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123206759616688285.html

Some more 'opinion' balancing from WSJ...Did they ever complain of IDF's killings of civilians?

[rightbackatu]

Dear Hamas,
Quit firing rockets at Israel. You do not have the manpower or weapons to destroy Israel. You are making your people suffer and getting killed for your actions.

Dear Israel,

Quit trying to snub out the Palestians. You took their land from them and continue to build settlements in their areas. You must stop the massacre of innocent people.

[justice2all]

Dear Hamas: Stop dragging children into your suicidal mission.

Dear Israel: Stop the bigotry,,and stop treating Palestine as second class citizens.

Dear USA: Grow a brain and use our tax dollars to buy some health care for our citizens without sending it to the middle east for death and destruction.

[Akin]

Dear rightbackatu,
Dear justice2all,

You are both remarkably even-handed.

I hope your brief letters are read, understood & reflected upon on both sides...