Who broke the ceasefire? Both Israel and Palestine say other side did?

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Hatem A

Israel violated the ceasefire. Israeli news media confirms it:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050460.html

Read the section that says:
"Six months ago Israel asked and received a cease-fire from Hamas. It unilaterally violated it when it blew up a tunnel"

Israel never denied they broke the ceasefire. Only the israeli apologetics do. They only justified it by saying that the tunnel was a threat to their security. However, there was no provocation from Hamas before that Israeli incursion. Tunnels were the only way the Palestinians were breaking the Israeli blockade to smuggle food, medicine and other necessities to Gaza. Israel had a tight siege on Gaza for most of the time during the ceasefire, which by itself was a violation of the terms of the ceasefire. The Israelis allowed supplies into Gaza only after the air strikes on Saturday to reduce the reputation fallout because of the civilian casualties. The Palestinians are also entitled to self defense. If you do not want to surrender to Israeli intimidation, what would you do if you were a Palestinian?

Edit:
Regarding Shay P answer, none of the rockets fired between June 19th and December 3rd (when Israel broke the ceasefire) were fired by Hamas. The majority of the few rockets that were fired during that period, were fired by Fatah (Aksa Martyrs Brigades), which is a group that is led by Palestinian president Abbas to sabotage the ceasefire with Hamas and give Israel an excuse to retaliate. Abbas is a US/Israel puppet. None of these rockets caused Israeli casualties and did very little damage. Check this Wikipedia link for a list of all rocket attacks in 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qassam_rocket_attacks_in_Israel_in_2008

Read quote on June 27th:
"Following yesterday's rocket attack by Aksa Martyrs Brigade a spokesman for the Hamas government, Taher al-Nunu, called Fatah's actions "unpatriotic". He said Hamas was considering the possibility of taking action against those perpetrating the attacks against Israel."

Teez

canada provoked this new situation. they are responsible.

i hope someone nukes their hockey stick factory.

SMILE 2 ME

hamas was not interested in extending the ceasefire. they ended it on the date they said they would.

Pete O

Hamas has continued to fire rockets into Israel even during the cease fire brokered by Egypt 6 months ago.
The continuing rocket attacks by Hamas has angered the Israeli people who are sick of the situation.
There is unlikely to be any peace in Gaza until the Hamas are removed from power that they took by force from the elected Palestine Government.
There is peace in Palestine and the people are living in relative security, however the Gaza strip (part of Palestine) is still controlled by terrorists, namely Hamas.

Gaza BLOOD Lake

Please have a look at the links below:

GUARDIAN on Nov 05th 2008
Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians

Gush Shalom: Israel broke Gaza ceasefire Dec 28th, 2008.
http://ww4report.com/node/6572

avarice

"IN JUNE, Israel agreed a six-month ceasefire with Hamas. Until December 27th, no Israeli, civilian or military, was killed as a result of rocket or mortar fire from Gaza.

None. Not one. And there was very little rocket or mortar fire out of Gaza until Israel broke the ceasefire in early November.

Those key facts have been missing from most of the reporting of Israel's slaughter of nearly 300 Palestinians in Gaza, which began on December 27th.

Israel's claim that it had to act in order to protect Israeli civilians from being killed by rocket or mortar fire from Gaza is bogus."

Former Knesset member Gush Shalom also reiterated that claim, that Israel is the one that broke the ceasefire, and not Hamas.

In addition, Haaretz (Dec. 28) reported that Israel, not Hamas, broke the ceasefire and that Israelâ€™s attack on Gaza has been planned for 6 months.

How this turned out to be a contestable issue, I will never know...it's absolutely astonishing how obscure the truth becomes when Israel's actions are called into question.

Jim E

All new sources ( even Al Jazeera ) point the finger at Hamas who fired rockets into Israel 2 months ago.

mark

In the US we do not get any coverage of the Israeli action on the ground. The siege of Gaza. 2 weeks ago Israel killed in the last month alone more than 30 people. The Israeli daily attacks on the West Bank cities. The settlers attacks on civilians in the West Bank too.

Shay p

1,
From November 4 - December 18, Hamas and affiliated Palestinian terrorist groups fired 213 rockets and 126 mortar shells into Israel.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Hamas+war+against+Israel/Rockets_strike_Sderot_Ashkelon_western_Negev_16-Nov-2008.htm
2.
Since the truce took effect on June 19, militants have fired 11 rockets and mortars at Israel, security officials said. The border crossings have been closed for a week, leaving the flow of aid to the impoverished area at nearly the same level as before the ceasefire.
3.
"It is clear that these rocket attacks present a grave violation of the understandings achieved by Egypt to achieve calm in the south," Mark Regev said.

Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza said they fired three rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday, violating a truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas leadership.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/24/gaza.truce/index.html

littlesmarty95

Israel! Isn't obvious?! they had the power to raid and kill and block off all palestine/gaza ports whenever they wanted and they definitely used that power! palestine/gaza reacted the only way they could by fighting back! after palestine/gaza did that israel used that as a cover up so that they could open SERIOUS fire on the people and so the rest of the world couldn't say anything about it! And even if israel didn't start it palestine/gaza would have reacted soon because food wasn't getting in because israel blocked ports and borders off! They call my people terrorist but that's just because israel shows the people what we did and not what they did to provoke it in the first place! If people saw the arabic news like me and my family do they would have no doubt about who the real terrorist are! further more you know their lying when Israel says they don't mean to kill civilians because they know that gaza is a small area and that it is very populated because the people are only that close together because israel put them their and the people don't have a choice of spreading out! And israeli government just wants a truce for a few days so that they can move in more troops and tanks and as soon as that truce ends the troops will move in! israel isn't trying to scare them their trying to kill them! this isn't even a war anymore this just an all out Holocaust! i dont want anymore killing of jews or arabs because a lot of jews have nothing to do with it and they just want peace for their country just as i want it for mine but for those who think they have the right to kill us the way they are i have no symphaty for!

Palestine4ever

there was no ceasefire ... Israel attacked gaza 150 times throw the ceasefire and sure hamas was always attacking back with rockets besides hamas was trying to break the siege cause Palestinians couldn't find food heat or even medicines
they dare to call hamas terrorist .. let's see who's the terrorist who killed 205 and injured over 700 !!
yea hamas lunched rockets against Israel but all they were asking is to feed their kids and provide heat and electricity
yea Israel doesn't even wants the Palestinians to live

zinca

even hamas admits they broke it themselves. they announced it was over and wouldn't be renewed. then they fired a couple hundred rockets into israel.

Hamas broke it months ago. What does it matter? Let's see what happens next.

callipygenous

What a horribly complex question. Do suicide bombings of Israeli malls count? How about random gunfire across the fence? A few quassam rockets here and there mixed in with a couple mortars? A military operation to close down a tunnel with the intent purpose of kidnapping IDF soldiers?

I'll be perfectly honest with you. No one will ever truly know because it is so subjective. Your point of view is vital to the question.

I think that the real question is one of INTENT. What is the intent of Hamas? Very simple, the destruction of Israel through terror attacks and control of the entirety of the old British Mandate from the Jordan River to the sea. This is very clearly stated in their creation charter. Their previous actions bear out this political aim and ideology.

What is the intent of the IDF? Primarily it is to preserve the security of Israelis. Note that I didn't say Jews. Israel is a polyglot nation and actually has Israeli Arabs (and Christians, Seiks, Druze, etc.) in it that enjoy much more freedom and opportunity in Israel than their brethren in Dar al-Islam. Do they do heinous things from time to time? Yes. Are those things against THEIR rules of engagement? Yes.

If Israel cared to (and adopted the rules of engagement of Hamas), the Gaza Strip would only exist as a small spec of desert covered with broken pieces of concrete and re-bar. Maybe some corrugated steel roofing material here and there. That would only be from Israel's conventional arsenal, no point in making the area radioactive.

Hamas launches unguided missiles on Israel on a daily basis. Over 6,000 in the last 8 years (not including directed mortar fire). Their intended targets are not military installations (although they'd love to be able to hit one), but just Israel. They have no idea where that stuff is landing. They don't care. That, my dear, is called a war crime and is a violation of the Geneva conventions and International Law.

The IDF uses the best intelligence they have to target military targets and limit civilian casualties. Hamas knows this, so they locate stockpiles in places whose destruction will give them the most international outrage.

If someone punched you in the face and bloodied your nose (for cause or no cause), wouldn't you hit them back with all your might? I know that I would. But, Israel does not do this with respect to the Palestinians. Hell, even Abbas and top PLO leadership members have said that Hamas violated the tahdiah. This last point must be taken with a grain of salt though, the PLO has political motives in denouncing Hamas. An interesting side note: whether you realize it or not, the PLO and Hamas have been at each other's throats since 1988. So much for a unified Palestine.

Who violated the cease fire? Probably both. The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter. What is, is.

--EDIT--
I have to edit this response. This is SUCH a complex issue. Israel is coming up on elections and everyone wants to seem "bad-***" and nationalistic. The PLO also wants to seem "bad-***" with respect to the Israelis so that they seem like they are fighting for their people's rights. Hamas has ALWAYS been "bad-***" towards everyone. Nations and treasuries are aligning with the disparate sides. Iran and Syria are basically funding a convenient, low-level proxy war with Israel through Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north (Lebanon). More moderate elements (Jordan, UAE, Kuwait, Egypt) are siding with Fatah in the West Bank.

Fatah's president is widely reviled as weak, pasty, corrupt, and incompetent piece of human garbage. He seems pressured to do ANYTHING that will regain him standing in the Palestinian community, including making some junk up.

After all of the dust clears, your original question won't matter. The question will be "Who in the hell do we talk to about peace?" Do you talk to Fatah or do you talk to Hamas (who have no interest in talking to you anyway)? Two non-states ruled by two different non-governments (one of which has VERY little control) that hate each other but are bound by their hatred for Israel, and financed by petro-dollars.

Should be fun. God bless America.

metallica72589

Obviously hamas did. The palestinian and palestinian supporters will deny this constantly, but they know they did, and this just shows the world the palestinians don't want peace but Israel does.

Here4Travel Q & A

Both sides say the ceasefire expired without a new one being signed.

Your attempt at trolling is a fail.

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