Greg, I need to intervene about a few hasbara points that you are unwittingly use.THE FIRST POINT IS "HAMAS ROCKETS". It appears that the last time a rocket killed an Israeli was October 7-8, as reported by Ha’aretz and the Times of Israel. 15 Israelis were killed – 10 of them PALESTINIAN ISRAELIS who COULD NOT access bomb shelters.
"Hamas Rockets" ----
September 2000 - Present
Approximately 45 Israelis were killed by Palestinian rockets
while over 15,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
https://ifamericansknew.org/stat/rockets.html#Sources
Here is the history of Hamas trying to stop the killing and Israel violating ceasefire. 003 - Israel breaks ceasefires with Hamas and assassinates ceasefire negotiator Ismail Abu Shanab, described as “one of the most powerful voices for peace”.
2003 - Gaza concentration camp is in the works
“…seal the territory off from the outside world, and simply shoot anyone who tries to break out”
— Arnon Soffer, brainchild of Gaza concentration camp
January 2004 - a proposed “10 year ceasefire” was broken with the bulldozing of 40 homes in Rafah and the killing of 5 civilians including an 11 year old boy.
January 2005 to June 2006 - Despite the usual bad faith actions of the Israelis in Gaza, Hamas would maintain an internationally recognized unilateral ceasefire for close to EIGHTEEN MONTHS.
Summer 2005 - Shortly after the disengagement, 6 months before Hamas were elected in to power and while Fatah was still the ruler of Gaza, Israel and the US had violated the understandings made to ensure the border crossings into Gaza remained open after Jewish settlers left.
“Every aspect of that agreement was abrogated,”
— US Special Envoy John Wolfensohn
2005 - The already in place siege, multiple provocations and assassinations where 183 Palestinians, including 49 children died, didn’t break the unilateral ceasefire.
Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, and his deputy Matan Vilnai…were plotting an invasion of Gaza throughout the…ceasefire with Hamas…they ignored every diplomatic overture from them, including offers of indefinite truces.
January 2006 - 50 per cent unemployment and a collapsed economy likely lead to the Hamas election.
April 2006 - Hamas stopped the use of suicide bombers that had killed 300 Israelis previously.
June 2006 - 18 month long ceasefire shattered with the massacre of an entire family on Gaza beach and the targeting of Hamas leaders. This, without taking in to account the killings of 20 Palestinians in the weeks before.
“Operation Summer Rains” (June) - 240 Palestinians killed, 197 of the total were civilians, 40 of those were children and 12 were women.
November 2006 - “Operation Autumn Clouds” - 80 Palestinians killed
665 Palestinians in total are killed this year. And 23 Israelis. A nearly 30 to 1 ratio.
2007 - Blockade tightened: The blockade was described as “like an appointment with a dietitian. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.”
— Dov Weisglass, Ariel Sharon’s right hand man in Washington
384 Palestinians die, including 52 children. And 13 Israelis.
A nearly 30 to 1 ratio.
June - November 2008 - Hamas ceasefire. Rocket fire reduced by 97%. 153 violations of the cease-fire by Israel, and 36 Palestinians in Gaza were killed. The economic siege of Gaza continued.
November, 2008- Israel assassinates 6 Hamas members to destroy ceasefire
27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009 - Operation “Cast Lead”.
Between 1200 and 1400 Palestinians were killed. 35 Israelis are killed in 2008 and just 3 in 2009.
2009-2012 - Sporadic skirmishes occurred but these skirmishes still resulted in 274 Palestinian deaths, including 37 children. And just 24 Israeli fatalities.
March 9, 2012 - Israel violates an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire and assassinates the head of the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees. 24 Palestinians killed.
70% of rockets/mortars were fired from Gaza during three distinct periods of escalation in March, June, and late October of 2012. Each of these escalations correlates with an assassination/killing, incursion, or other Israeli military action.
IDF Gaza commander recognized Hamas’ ceasefire efforts but still boasted of plans for a ground invasion.
10 - 21 November - Operation “Pillar of Defense” resulted in the deaths of 174 Palestinians. And 112 Palestinians died that same year during “more peaceful times”.
November 14, 2012 - two days after a ceasefire is implemented, Israel assassinates the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Ahmed Jabari, described by Israeli peace activists as “…one of the more practical actors on the Hamas side”, after a week in which at least six Palestinian civilians are killed.
He was assassinated just after receiving a draft for a long term ceasefire from Egyptian intelligence to open contact with Israeli intelligence.
November 2012 to July 2014 (TWENTY MONTHS) - Hamas again maintained a prolonged unilateral ceasefire despite Israel immediately and continually breaking it on a daily basis throughout that time and tightening the siege even more. Other groups sporadically responded to Israeli provocations.
Throughout 2013 there were a total of “32 rockets and 12 mortars” allegedly fired from Gaza. A 98% drop in numbers from the year before. None were fired by Hamas.
38 Palestinians would be killed in 2013, the lowest number since 2000, but still higher than the number of Israelis killed by rockets fired from Gaza over TEN YEARS.
January 1 to June 12, 2014 - Israelis killed 30 Palestinians, 4 of them children.
June 12, 2014 - Three Israeli settlers allegedly kidnapped. They had been killed that same day but the Israeli government, police and intelligence hid this fact, even from the families, to whip up a hate frenzy.
13 Palestinians would be murdered by Israel after the kidnapping of the Israeli settlers and BEFORE the first Hamas launched rockets on June 28
9 MORE Palestinians would die BEFORE “Operation Protective Edge” was launched on July 8
July 8, 2014 - “Operation Protective Edge” - 2271 Palestinians were slaughtered, including 562 children.
August 2014 to 2022 - another 1,265 Palestinians were killed during “peaceful” times, including the 2018 Great March of Return protests where 266 people were killed, including 50 children, and almost 30,000 injured in one year. 122 had legs amputated and 14 their arms.
(Al Jazeera, 30 Mar 2019)
And this year, 2023, before October 7, 213 Palestinians, including 44 children were killed.
(B’tselem).
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THE SECOND POINT IS THE HOAX that Israel built the Apartheid wall in response to the suicide bombings.
It was as much a "response" as one can call the current genocide a "response to October 7 attack". Same situation, same cover-up for ethnic cleansing. Nothing to do with any security. Overall, it is very easy to stop "Palestinian violence". STOP ISRAEL. Make it one state with equal rights for all and the right of return of the expelled to their homes. The right to BUILD AND REBUILD. So, the wall:
"WHY THE WALL?
By Ray Hanania
February 10, 2004
Why is Israel building a barrier in an age when walls are being torn down? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says it’s to prevent terrorism. But that’s not the real story.
Sharon’s wall does three things: confiscates more Palestinian land, gives Israel control over all of the West Bank’s water, and imprisons Palestinians in an archipelago of ghettos intended to prompt Palestinians to “flee.”
Although only partly built, when completed, the wall will be 408 miles long and annex 42 percent of the West Bank. Coincidentally, these are the very same lands Sharon’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, tried to retain in his so-called generous peace plan.
In analyzing the route of the wall at a recent conference in Chicago (the maps are on my Web page at www.hana nia.com), the purpose of it became very clear: to force Palestinians out. The Sharon wall annexes the best farmlands in the West Bank, including farms immediately adjacent to Palestinian villages and cities.
Agriculture is the primary form of subsistence for Palestinians. After the wall is built, that subsistence will end. Recently, under international pressure, Sharon’s government has talked of minor changes to the wall’s route.
Observers of the route of the wall say they are often puzzled by the manner in which it zigzags with no apparent purpose around the landscape. But it does have a purpose. The wall “annexes” into Israel 31 of the West Bank’s most productive water wells.
Unable to farm their lands without water, the Palestinians will either starve to death or flee — as Palestinians were forced into refugee status by Israeli forces in 1947 and 1948.
The issue of water is overshadowed by the conflict. Rainfall is not equitable in the region. Annually, 22.5 percent falls in Jordan, 29.7 percent falls in Israel, and 47.8 percent falls in the West Bank.
Annual water usage, controlled by Israel, shows a more desperate picture. Israel uses 52 percent of the water. The residents of the West Bank use 18 percent of the water to grow what little crops they live on.
Jordan uses 30 percent of the water. Recently, Sharon used water as a threat, warning that if Jordan did not cooperate with Israel’s security plans, it would reduce water availability to the Jordan River through its control of Lake Tiberias in the north.
The 31 seized water wells are legally owned by 636 Palestinian families and shared with all Palestinians. But that has not stopped Israel over the years.
From the day Israel first occupied the West Bank in June 1967, one of its first acts was to adopt Order No. 92, prohibiting Palestinian water development without an Israeli government permit.
Since then, Israel has not issued one permit to Christians or Muslims — but permits have been issued to Jewish settlers.
With the Sharon wall, the Israelis no longer need to hide behind pretend permit application processes like Order No. 92. All the water will be in their control.
Palestinians face few choices. It is likely that in their desperation, they will turn to violence and suicide bombings under the morbid assumption “if I die, you die, too.” It’s that kind of twisted rewriting of the old biblical logic of “an eye for an eye” that drives today’s conflict on both sides.
As you can see, Sharon’s wall will not discourage violence. It will most likely encourage more violence, and more violence means Israel can expand its control over Palestinian lands.
And that’s precisely why Ariel Sharon wants this wall." ----
Please reconsider your opinions.
By the way, Hamas was far not alone in this uprising, and Hamas itself does not fight. It is just one of the 7 Palestinian parties. The resistance brigades fight.
