Amid all the calls for an Israeli cease-fire in the war with Gaza, a few key facts are getting short shrift. Israel has put forth a cease-fire plan. It was negotiated along with U.S., Egyptian, Qatari, and Saudi diplomats. Its terms are quite favorable to Hamas. And Hamas is the party that's rejecting it.
The plan, which has been on the table for two weeks, calls for a 40-day cease-fire. During this period, all military activity by Israel and Hamas will stop. Israel will suspend aerial surveillance over Gaza for eight hours of each day. Hamas will free 40 hostages—one a day. They will include women, children under 19, people over 50, and ill hostages. In exchange, Israel will free 400 Palestinian prisoners—a 10-to-1 ratio.
A 10:1 prisoner ratio and a 40 day cease-fire.
Meanwhile, the six-week cease-fire plan seems as if it has something to offer for all sides. Diplomats from neighboring Arab states have been pushing Hamas to take the deal. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Qatari officials have threatened to expel Hamas' political leaders—who have been living in cushy houses and condos in the small, oil-rich nation—if they don't accept the cease-fire, though no action has yet been taken.
So Israel, US, all the Arab states think it is a fair ceasefire. But Hamas won't agree.
A senior Hamas leader openly said, in an interview with Russian TV two weeks into the war, that protecting civilians was the United Nations' responsibility, not his. They don't care about the lives or well-being of ordinary Gazans. As long as he and other Hamas leaders survive, down in their tunnels or wherever they happen to be, they're willing to hang on.
Lovely people.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
11 comments:
So you are a Zionist shill now. Are they also paying you?
When the US started building a port for humanitarian aid then you can know for sure that Israel is totally out of control and cannot be reasoned with and will not stop their ethnic cleansing for anyone.
Interesting how stating facts makes one a Zionist shill these days. Almost as if the accuser has a closed mind.
They don't need to pay him @Anon 7:20. He is in their camp.
Anonymous1. If you are going to attack Mr Farrar at least have the decency to identify yourself. Or do you live down the same tunnels as Hamas ?
Mr Bird I agree with you entirely.
On Friday Russia and China, along with Algeria, vetoed a US draft resolution on Gaza calling for ceasefire, with the objectors complaining that the language fell short of a clear and unequivocal demand for a ceasefire.
The draft ceasefire sought to directly link an immediate ceasefire with the release of all hostages from Gaza. China and Russia saw in it language that paves the way for okaying an Israeli offensive against Rafah.
US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said of the proposed resolution, "We want to see an immediate and sustained ceasefire as part of a deal that leads to the release of all hostages being held by Hamas and other groups and that will allow much more life-saving, humanitarian aid to get into Gaza."
But Russian ambassador to the Security Council Vasily Nebenzya accused the US of engaging in "hypocritical" posturing:
He accused the United States of doing nothing to rein in Israel in Gaza, and mocked Washington for speaking of a ceasefire after "Gaza has been virtually wiped off the face of the Earth".
"We have observed a typical hypocritical spectacle," he said.
Nebenzya said that the resolution offered by the Biden administration would have "ensured the impunity of Israel, whose crimes are not even assessed in the draft."
@Robert Bird, stating facts about someones public political views isn't an attack.
I couldn't agree with you more, David.
It's a shame how woke the world has become, and New Zealand in particular.
To Anonymous 1
Calling the author a Zionist shill is an attack on his character. Look up the meaning of shill. It is a very derogatory adjective.
Hamas have broken EVERY ceasefire to date - but why on earth would Israel agree to ANY ceasefire, after the brutal attack on their nation and their people.
NO other nation would be expected to do this if such an attack happened on their land, and NO other nation would be expected to provide humanitarian aid to the nation that they are at war with.
We don't see Russia being told to provide humanitarian aid to the Ukraine.
Hamas started the war. Their demonic activity which included absolutely atrocious acts performed on women and children, and which was celebrated by many Palestinians - deserves the retaliation they are now experiencing.
We hope Israel wipes them all out. NO nation should have to continually defend themselves against such evil by a people who want them to be destroyed - even though they are living on land that rightfully belongs to Israel.
NO nation should have to answer to the world as Israel does - for defending their right to be a nation - a right they had long long before most other nations had - and to live in peace.
The sooner Hamas & the Islamic terrorists in Gaza are destroyed, and UNRWA - that evil organisation that encourages hate and murder are removed - the better it will be for both Israel and the Palestinians - who by the way are terrorists at heart because of the hate that is instilled in them.
Those who bless Israel will be blessed - those that curse her will be cursed.
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