[Marxism] Hamas outlines proposed truce

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Let me cite an example of the way Al Jazeera.com sometimes uses
imperialist-media modes of expression which deliberately obscure what is
really happening. The last line reads:

"Israel and the US have opposed reconstruction funds for Gaza going to
Hamas."

This sis a lie. There are no proposals for reconstruction funds for Gaza to
go through Hamas. What the imperialists are insisting is on an embargo on
any reconstruction aid going through the elected government of the Gaza
Strip. 

They oppose this because the people of the Gaza Strip have established a
Palestinian government in Gaza that is independent politically of the US and
Israel -- the first sovereign government that has existed on Palestinian
territory since the 1948 war.

This is a popularly supported government that has sought to defend the
independence of Gaza from Israeli domination and expropriation, and which
therefore has a growing appeal to Palestinians both within Israel and in the
plundered West Bank, which is in the midst of an escalating Israeli campaign
of expropriation bankrolled -- like almost everything about Israel -- by
Washington and the US rich. 

The imperialists want the money to go through their own agencies and the
feeble Palestinian authority -- whose popular support has collapsed, which
depends entirely on Israel and Washington, and which opposes any fight for
Palestinian land  anywhere in Palestine.

Washington demands that the money be spent not to reconstruct Palestine but
to blackmail the Palestinian people in Gaza in giving up the sovereignty
they have won and to crush the independent government they have created (as
well as, of course, using the flow of cash to continue the buyout of the
Fatah leadership and bureaucracy).
Fred Feldman


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091262856562893.html

Hamas outlines proposed Gaza truce  
 
Hamas has pledged $50m for reconstruction
efforts in the Gaza Strip [EPA]
 
 
Hamas officials have proposed a year-long ceasefire with Israel in the
latest round of peace talks brokered by Egypt.

The proposal was made during a meeting in Cairo on Sunday between
Palestinian factions and Egyptian mediators and contrasts with an 18-month
truce called for by Israel.

Hamas is also seeking an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and an
opening of all border crossings, to be monitored by European Union and
Turkish monitors.

Israel has said under its plan there would only be a partial opening of the
border.

The two sides are engaged in indirect Egyptian-brokered talks in a bid to
build on a fragile ceasefire in Gaza after the halt of more than three weeks
of Israeli assault on the territory.

Ayman Taha, a Hamas official, said the proposals would be discussed further
with the group's leadership in Damascus.

"We will study the matter again and it will be brought back to the
Egyptians," he told MENA, the official Egyptian news agency on Sunday,
without elaborating on the other provisions of the possible deal.

Amos Gilad, Israel's top negotiator on Gaza, was in Cairo last week for
talks.

The 22-day Israeli offensive which began on December 27 killed some 1,300
Palestinians and left more than 5,000 others wounded.

Taha said the discussions with Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence
chief, covered the nature and length of the truce, a system to monitor the
border crossings and how reconstruction would be carried out.

 
Tens of thousands of Palestinian homes
have been destroyed [AFP] 
"We are ready for any help in this issue [of reconstruction], but we are not
willing to make it a political issue or use it for blackmail," he told the
news agency.

Hamas has rejected the presence of Israeli monitors at border crossings,
calling instead for monitors to come from the EU and Turky.

The counter proposal follows a Hamas pledge of $50m of its own money for the
reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, saying that it alone should supervise the
effort.

A national committee set up to oversee relief efforts will start giving out
the money this week to Palestinians afflicted by the Israeli offensive.

On Sunday Ahmed al-Kurd, the Hamas-appointed social affairs minister who
also heads the committee, said the money will be distributed to those who
lost family members or their homes.

He said more than 20,000 Palestinian houses have been either completely or
partially destroyed during the recent war.

The Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has
also asked to lead the reconstruction efforts, which it said would require
about $1.9bn in aid.

The Fatah group led by Abbas was forced out of power in Gaza when Hamas took
control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

According to initial estimates Gaza suffered about $2bn in damage during the
Israeli air strikes and ensuing ground offensive.

Israel and the US have opposed reconstruction funds for Gaza going to Hamas.












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