Ehud Barak was just being interviewed. He reckons six weeks to clear the strip of all Hamas fighters , leadership and infrastructure and then it might be the Israeli plan to bring in some pan-Arab peacekeepers to run the place.
Not sure thatâs the case anymore. Qataris do back Hamas but their negotiating power across the Arabs isnât what it was.
While they may have sway on Hamas , it will be to only ensure they not do any further misadventure.
Would be better if a UN Peace keeping force is kept under use even to ensure Hamas surrenders but UNs been useless in the situations where they might be of use
If that is possible I would suggest that as a priority. I suppose it depends on who is actually running it.
Nevertheless, I think only a non islamist militant government will bring Israel to even consider coming to the table for 2 state talks again. I think previously one of the main obstacles that Israel has was militarization of any independent Palestinian state. I think that give is not the most far fetch for an independent Palestinian state where an UN peacekeeping corp can be put in for a number of years, different but not dissimiliar to what East Timor has when they manage to declare formal independence from Indonesia after also having many died during the Indonesian rule. Making this formal mean it will prevent Israel from using its military against a formally sovereign state.
Again, this is just idealistic but I think there is no way of a peace deal with Hamas, but with Fatah or any non militant group, there is a chance for even international political actors to get behind.
And Israel wonât be bothered with civilian casualties. Theyâll just pound Gaza to the dust with missiles. Barak is referring to the time it takes to do just that. Thereâs no escape route for the people as .
The deluge of posts in this thread suggests something bad has happened. Iâm scared to even check the headlines. 
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Donât worry you can always to the Central Midfield Thread to continue the latest deluge of compliments for me.
You do know how to lighten things up, donât you. 
Yeah this world is in a mess, and even if I am far away from these violences, we are not really far. Just today, our Minister has issued an interview that we must not let these violences, while we condemn them, to affect our own internal racial and religious harmony. He also revealed that even in Singapore, a country with very religious people but pretty much moderate, in the last 2 years, we had detained 2 persons who had wanted to go to Gaza and fight with Hamas against Israel and 1 had even plan a knife attack on Jews in a synagogue in Singapore. Similarly, there was a 14 year old who planned a knife attack on Muslims in a mosque in Singapore inspired by the Christchurch attacks and was also detained. This shows how the situation on the ground can easily be translated and radically influence even people far away from the ground. So today, even while we discussed on these on a forum, I do what I can do to make my own and lives of people around me a little bit better by treating them better. Its idealistic but if we all do our part to treat people around us better, we are one small step nearer to peace.
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I think there is a lack of solid information and a great deal of disinformation. Hence, masses of speculation.
I was just checking one of my works emails and it said that one of the organisations that we support has lost contact with a number of staff. So even those on the ground donât know what is happening.
I doubt the Israelis would want the UN in there under any guise.
He was saying two weeks of more bombardment and then another four weeks for land troops to clear Gaza City.
Between a Security Council that has a Russian veto, a Human Rights Council that has no problem seating nations with horrific human rights records (though no longer Russia), and a General Assembly that routinely condemns Israel, I donât think there is much of a role for the UN. Israel would probably prefer to deal with the Arab League.
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My understanding is that just about every organization with staff in Gaza is struggling to make contact. Some are trying to organize an evacuation of those staff.
Mobile Communications and related services would be the first to go in these cases. And I suspect Elon isnât willing to fly across StarLinks.
The main issue is the security council. Reformation of that has to be the priority. Having countries with veto power is idiotic.
Fatah, specially under the Abbas, is a slimy scum. Yes, they donât carry out terrorist or military attacks on Israel, but they do that on their own people. Because they donât confront Israel, they are dubbed as liberal/pragmatist. If Fatah/PA/Abbas had spine and resisted the Israeli encroachment in West Bank, neither Hamas nor Israel would have been embolden to carry out their atrocities.
Abbas/PA/Fatah rules his pockets of West Bank like his fiefdom. His human rights violations are as bad as those of Israel and Hamas. Difference is, he carries out those against his own people.
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Sad reading that. Often the case that ineffectual Warlords ruling often lead to people choosing a lot worse.
Well letâs be honest, they havenât for the last 70 yearsâŚso why would they now?
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