Gaza round-up

Hamas and negotiations

Contrary to Israeli propaganda Hamas has not opposed all negotiations.

Indeed when he was assassinated Hamas’s military leader Ahmad al-Jaabri was in the middle of peace negotiations with Israel. Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin revealed the negotiations to the newspaper Haaretz.

The Tories blame victims

British foreign secretary William Hague condemned “the continuation of rocket fire from Gaza on to Israel that... has precipitated the current crisis.” He went on to call for a ceasefire on both sides.

Bizarrely warmonger Tony Blair is still a Middle East peace envoy. He has come in from the cold to appear on various TV news programmes blaming violence on the Palestinians and vaguely adding, “It’s very important we take every action now to de-escalate.”

An exchange of armaments

Britain and Israel have a long history of military cooperation, which is keeping pace with new technology. Israel is the world’s leading exporter of drones.

It is offering its expertise to the joint Watchkeeper project with the British military. This improves on the kill power of the Israeli Hermes drone by having a multiple payload configuration.