Q: Can we interpret the Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip as an effort to ruin the newly-formed unity government in Palestine? Is Israel trying to delegitimize Hamas in the eyes of the people of Gaza Strip who voted unanimously in the 2006 legislative election to bring it to power, and to pretend that Hamas is not capable of providing security and welfare for them?

A: Indeed, there is also a more immediate reason for the particular timing of this assault. The Fatah-Hamas unity government and the Palestinian Authority decision to replace the ‘peace process’ with an appeal to international organizations endangers, in the eyes of the Israelis, their control over the West Bank. So the wish was for destroying Hamas politically in the West Bank and militarily in the Gaza Strip.

Famously, Hillary Clinton lost her bid to be president in 2008 six years before the election, when she cast a vote for the Iraq war. Barack Obama, who’d been against that war as a nobody state senator in Illinois, was able to run to her left in appealing to the Democratic Party base, and win the nomination.

(3. August) Israeli intelligence agencies intercepted Kerry‘s phone calls and listened to his conversations via satellite while he was attempting to reach a peace deal between Israel and Palestine earlier this year, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported.

(16. September 2012) At 2,224 meters (7,300 feet) above sea level, inside Mount Hermon, intelligence operatives listen to signals around the clock • Overlooking Syria, the men and women of this secluded electronic surveillance outpost are the first line of defense in preventing surprise attacks.

Britain’s ambassador to the US has held at least 22 meetings with US intelligence select committee senators since they began looking into leaked CIA cables in 2009.

Newly released Foreign Office documents show “the desperate attempts being made by the UK to censor the Senate’s report on CIA torture,” stormed Reprieve executive director Clare Algar.

Current ambassador Sir Peter Westmacott most recently tried to lobby Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich on July 14.

In 2005, Israel removed 7,500 illegal settlers from the choice lands in Gaza they had occupied for years. (…)

The Disengagement was also unilateral, which meant there was no coordination with the Palestinians. No core Palestinian requests were met, such as allowing free commerce, free sea access, and the reopening of Gaza’s International Airport. Palestinians were effectively blockaded even before Hamas won elections in 2006 with a 45% plurality of the vote. (…)

An Israeli officer had recently admitted the army’s raids into Gaza were characterized by chaos and the indiscriminate use of force. “Gaza was considered a playground for sharpshooters,” he explained.

The number includes 553 children, 253 women, and 96 elderly, since July 8, while more than 10500, including 3106 children, 1970 women and 368 elderly, have been injured.

Several missiles were fired into homes in Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, the al-Qarara Town Council and its Cultural Center, north of Khan Younis, causing significant property damage.

She, however, did not support federalization of Ukraine, the idea promoted by Russia and supported by German vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, according to an interview to Welt am Sonntag newspaper. „In Ukraine decentralization is the same which Germany understands as federalization,” she said.

(18.8.2014) Western pressure on the ICC to stay away from the issue has caused deep rifts within the prosecutor‘s office. Some former officials say the Palestinians were misled in 2009 into thinking their request for a war crimes investigation – in the wake of an earlier Israeli offensive on Gaza, named Cast Lead – would remain open pending confirmation of statehood. That confirmation came in November 2012 when the UN general assembly (UNGA) voted to award Palestine the status of non-member observer state, but no investigation was launched.

…

They also agreed to request from the United Nations “a resolution that would define a timetable for the end of Israel’s occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state”.

The agency said Abbas would undertake the diplomatic steps necessary to seek such a resolution.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (L) with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani (C) and Hamas exiled leader Khaled Meshaal (R) in Doha on August 21, 2014

(9. Juni 2014) Bezeichnenderweise kam es selbst nach der unverbindlichen Ankündigung aus dem Weißen Haus vom 28. Mai, Ende 2014 mit dem Kongress über die Kriegsvollmacht A.U.M.F. “reden” zu wollen, in den nachfolgenden Tagen weltweit zu rational scheinbar unerklärlichen Vorfällen, Attentaten und Statements aus der Terrorkriegslobby;

es sei denn, man interpretiert diese nicht nur als Spannungsfälle, sondern als Nervositätsanfälle gescheiterter Terrorkriegslobbyisten und ihrem Konzept hegelianischer Dialektik von Terror und Krieg als “heilige” Mittel zum Zweck der Transformation und Verschmelzung ziviler Demokratien zu imperialistischen totalitären Blöcken.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, the U.S. Congress passed an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that was unmoored from American traditions. The 2001 AUMF is unique among other such authorizations in American history in that it includes no limitations in time, geography,
operations, or a named enemy, as this report documents in detail. (…)

A realistic window of opportunity is emerging to refine the law by bringing it in line with historical practice and putting it on the course toward repeal. The war in Afghanistan is
coming to a close. The campaign to degrade and destroy core al-Qaeda has largely succeeded, rendering the organization “probably unable to carry out complex, large-scale attacks in the West.” Moreover, the expansion of operations under the AUMF has already stressed its authority to the limits and leaves open the possibility of expansive interpretations of the law
by future administrations, further calling for refinement.

This paper assesses the national security risks of perpetual warfare entailed by the 2001 law and recommends a way forward to realize President Obama’s commitment to “refine, and
ultimately repeal” 2 the AUMF.

President Mahmoud Abbas held Saturday morning talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi, at the Presidential headquarters in Cairo.

Abbas arrived in Cairo on Friday night coming from Doha, where he held a meeting with Hamas exiled leader Khaled Meshaal and Emir of Qatar [Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani] over the situation in Gaza.

Ich bin überzeugt, dass nach den Kiewer Zwecklügen in den nächsten Stunden und Tagen ebensolche heuchlerische an uns gerichtete Belehrungen aus anderen Hauptstädten folgen werden. Die Primitivität und Vorhersagbarkeit dessen, was wir vom Westen hören, erfordert keine langen Kommentare. Wir antworten im Vorhinein: bevor ihr andere lehrt, wie man leben soll, beginnt bei euch selbst. Denkt darüber nach, in welchem Ausmaß eure Worte durch eure eigenen Handlungen konterkariert werden. Wir sind von unserer Rechtmäßigkeit überzeugt. Und wir beschuldigen Kiew und die hinter ihm stehenden Länder, dass sie jedes Mal ihre politischen, dem Wesen nach antirussischen Interessen höher stellen als die unverrückbaren Normen der Menschenliebe und des Mitgefühls.

Palestinian workers at Zarfati Garage in Mishur Edumim Settlement went on strike following the dismissal of the Union leader Hatem abu-Ziadeh.

Die US-Administration will den Kampf gegen die Mörderbanden des »Islamischen Staats« (IS) offenbar zum Vorwand nehmen, auch Bombenangriffe auf Syrien zu fliegen. »Wir denken über alle Optionen nach«, erklärte US-Verteidigungsminister Charles Hagel am Donnerstag im Pentagon auf die Frage eines Reporters.

Auch Parteivize Stegner warnt vor der SPD-Klausur: Heute Waffen liefern – morgen werden damit Unschuldige erschossen

Venezuelan ambassador to Egypt, Juan Antonio Hernandez, said Wednesday that an Israeli aircraft attacked the Venezuelan humanitarian delegation in Rafah along the border post between Egypt and Palestine. The delegation was delivering twelve tons of aid to the Palestinian people.

Ich jedenfalls halte mich weiter an Tucholsky und nicht an die Özdemirs, Fleischhauers und Gaucks und all die anderen, die ihre Hände in Unschuld waschen werden, wenn „unsere Jungs“ zum Morden geschickt werden und „unsere Waffen“ den Frieden herbei schießen.