From Ian:
Netanyahu: Israel demands a total ceasefire
The man trying to save Gaza
Netanyahu: Israel demands a total ceasefire
Israel demands nothing less than a complete cease-fire from Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday before the weekly government meeting.
"We are in the midst of a campaign against the terror [Hamas] in Gaza. There has been an exchange of blows and this will not end in one blow,” Netanyahu said.
“Our demand is clear - a total cease-fire,” Netanyahu added.
“So far, we have destroyed hundreds of Hamas military targets. With every round of attacks, the IDF exacts a heavy price from Hamas. I will not reveal our operational plans, but they are ready.
Our goal is to restore peace to the residents of the south and the surrounding areas. This goal will be achieved in full,” Netanyahu said.
He spoke in advance of a meeting later today of the security cabinet to discuss further steps with regard to Gaza in the aftermath of last week’s violent flare up in which close to 200 rockets were fired at Israel on Wednesday and Thursday.
It’s unclear if Hamas stopped the rocket fire as the result of a mutual understanding reached with Israel, or if it was unilateral decision.
The man trying to save Gaza
United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov, 47, has become one of the most prominent diplomatic brokers the region has seen in recent years. His current mission is a critical one: preventing a war from breaking out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, as well as eventually rebuilding the strip.Matti Friedman [NYT$]: Matti Friedman
Ever since the mass protests along the Gaza border fence began on March 30—and with them the kite and balloon terrorism that has burnt large swaths of fields and woodlands in southern Israel—Mladenov has been a central figure in efforts to prevent a violent confrontation between Israel and Hamas.
At least twice, his intensive diplomatic work—together with the Egyptians—was successful in preventing further escalation. The last time was on July 20, when a Palestinian sniper killed Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi from the Givati Brigade, the first Israeli casualty on the Gaza border since Operation Protective Edge, prompting the IDF to bomb dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip, and it seemed that a huge escalation was inevitable. Hamas made a phone call to Mladenov, who rushed to ask Israel for a ceasefire, which in the meantime seems to be holding—until next time.
Israeli officials agree that Mladenov is the most active UN envoy the region has seen in recent years. That is considered a compliment, as Israel generally views UN personnel with suspicion for their generally pro-Palestinian views. Mladenov previously headed a UN mission to Iraq and served as the minister of defense and foreign affairs in his native Bulgaria.
Sources familiar with Mladenov say he is very involved, ambitious and makes frequent trips to all the parties; all while presenting a pleasant demeanor, wisdom and a desire to delve into the depth of the issues.
Mr. Dabash, a civil engineer, was born in Sur Baher a few months before Israel captured it in a war with Jordan in 1967. Unlike the West Bank, which was placed under military occupation pending a peace deal with the Arab world, East Jerusalem was declared by Israel to be part of Israel proper.
That meant people here, including the Dabash family, were given residency status and access to Israel’s systems of universal health care and social welfare. They were allowed to apply for citizenship and vote in municipal elections. But nearly no one in East Jerusalem did either of those things, seeing them as an unacceptable “normalization” of Israeli control.
For the past 51 years, Mr. Dabash and the other Arab residents of Jerusalem have lived an ambivalent and disadvantaged political existence. In the last election in 2013, according to City Hall, not even 2 percent of them cast a ballot.
Over the past five years or so, watching from west Jerusalem, it’s been clear that remarkable changes are afoot in the city’s human landscape. Not long ago, it was unheard-of to see Palestinian salespeople in Israeli stores. Now it’s commonplace. Palestinian enrollment at Hebrew University is up dramatically, as are requests for Israeli citizenship. The number of East Jerusalem wage earners employed in West Jerusalem is now estimated at close to 50 percent. The trend is driven not by good will but by economic interests: by demand for labor in Jewish Jerusalem, and by a lack of better options for Palestinians. . .
Following all of this makes you more aware of the peculiarities and paradoxes on which the city rests. One, for example, is that the movement on the Israeli side is coming not from the conciliatory left but from the nationalist right. The left traditionally hoped that one day East Jerusalem would be transferred to Palestinian rule and wouldn’t be Israel’s problem — hardly an incentive to invest. The right, on the other hand, believes the whole city must remain under Israeli control, and thus has an interest in making a united city more viable.




















