Barak: Ceasefire with Hamas Could Have Worked

Published March 10, 2009 @ 05:15AM PT

This is coming straight from Tikkun Olam:

Every so often in Israeli politics there are brief flashes of clarity when the clouds of obfuscation clear, allowing you to see what you knew all along was true. Sol Salbe brings word of a news report from Israel’s Galey Tzahal (Army Radio) about a fractious Israel cabinet meeting at which Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak went at each other hammer and tong about the current Palestinian rocket attacks. Here is Sol’s translation of the key excerpt:

A sharp confrontation has taken place around the table at the full Ministry meeting. Discussing the subject of the continual firing of rockets from Gaza,…Defence Minister [Barak] explained to his colleagues that negotiations are being conducted to ensure an arrangement with Hamas with Egypt acting as the intermediary. He was interrupted by the prime minister who said: “There are no negotiations. Israel does not intend to arrange a “calm” with that organisation.”

The Defence Minister responded that the firing of the rockets would have stopped had Israel accepted the calm.

“What the Defence Minister proposes proves that there was no value to the whole Cast Lead Operation. You are suggesting that now that we have smashed Hamas, we should accept the conditions that they offered to us before the operation,” said the prime minister.

Stay tuned for even more evidence that the war on Gaza was another in a long succession of Israel "wars of choice" conducted when peaceful alternatives existed. Or rather, conducted precisely because peaceful alternatives that Israel did not want needed to be pre-empted with massive violence.

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Comments (13)

"The Defence Minister responded that the firing of the rockets would have stopped had Israel accepted the calm."

1. I doubt this conversation ever happened.
2. Barak is no prophet.
3. Even now the rockets have not stopped.
4. Egypt could not even stop munitions moving into Gaza.

But you continue to collect stories to support you viewpoint Charles, nothing changes.

Posted by Michael Ross on 03/10/2009 @ 07:35AM PT
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1. Your doubt is irrelevant. This is a more reliable source of information than your feelings.2. Barak is still an intelligent man capable of analysis of situations he's deeply involved in.3. That's the point Barak is making.4. Evidence of this is no more authoritative than the evidence of Israeli excessive violence.

Posted by Jeremy Keith Hammond on 03/11/2009 @ 05:43AM PT
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Jeremy logically it is impossible to have evidence of excessiveness, excessive is a relative term, excessive to what? Who determines that? Was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki excessive? That is a moral issue.

Posted by Michael Ross on 03/11/2009 @ 07:41AM PT
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Again you fail to address my points - your liberal use of straw-man, and other fallacies is more irritating than convincing. I may have used a charged term, but it doesn't render my argument invalid and therefor targeting it is only an attempt to discredit me and not actually prove me wrong.

Posted by Jeremy Keith Hammond on 03/11/2009 @ 07:53AM PT
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I disagree, this is not personal, why do you put limits on the amount of violence needed to stop an agressor? If someone attacks a large person, do you expect that person to respond with one hand tied behind his back?

Posted by Michael Ross on 03/11/2009 @ 08:04AM PT
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I'm not talking about excessive violence - this is something you think you can prove me wrong about - and maybe you can, but proving me wrong about it does not make my arguments above invalid because the term I used has little to do with the point I was making and could easily be replaced with something else less politically charged and debatable.

Posted by Jeremy Keith Hammond on 03/11/2009 @ 08:45AM PT
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Be my guest Jeremy, reformulate your points without the political charged rhetoric, and lets debate!

Posted by Michael Ross on 03/11/2009 @ 08:58AM PT
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I'm not going to make my points again because I don't want to follow another trail of mis-directs.

I'll give you a break: I don't believe Barak stated that the rockets would have stopped on their own. That's not what he said and it's not what I implied - don't act like it was. It's misleading.

Posted by Jeremy Keith Hammond on 03/11/2009 @ 09:25AM PT
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Michael is right the rockets continue to be launched after HAMAS received a massive beating in Operation Cast Lead. I would argue that Operation Cast Lead was necessary to improve Israel's bargaining power and deterrence but that Israel should experiment in opening the crossings into Gaza simply for the chance to alleviate the economic situation.
Poverty and unemployment in Gaza will continue to be more of a danger to Israel then rocket attacks. Israel needs to think long-term and accept that alleviating the palestinian economy is worth the risk of HAMAS smuggling in more weapons.

Posted by Nick Messina on 03/10/2009 @ 07:51PM PT
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Nick,

In spite of the propaganda the flow of essentials is entering Gaza. Not what UNWRA wants but nevertheless it is happenning. That is why you do not hear the roar from the ngo crowd.

The flow of goods and services will be risked by Israel once Shalit comes home. Until that happens nothing will change. He needs to be given up and Israel is willing to release prisoners. Egypt just yesterday complained that Hamas was screwing up the deal.

Posted by s o on 03/11/2009 @ 10:00AM PT
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"Michael is right the rockets continue to be launched after HAMAS received a massive beating in Operation Cast Lead"
Don't you find it a bit contradictory that "HAMAS received a massive beating" yet "the rockets continue to be launched"? If they are still capable of launching rockets then the beating they received wasn't that massive. The fallacy in your post is the assertion that it was HAMAS that received the beating. No it was not HAMAS that got the beating it was the people of Gaza that bore the brunt of the massacre which was meant not to handicap HAMAS but to "teach the Palestinians a lesson".

Posted by A N on 03/11/2009 @ 05:57AM PT
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No it was Hamas. But Israel for political reasons decided, advised or not, to cease its operations. Hamas infrastructure was devastated. If Israel wanted to flatten Gaza it would not take much but that was not the intent. Sorry Aref but this is a war with a Terror/guerrilla organization that hides behind the general population. That is their intent by design.

Posted by s o on 03/11/2009 @ 09:56AM PT
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This whole Middle East thing tends to confuse people, including me. I know it would be in the US's best interest to interfere and create stability, but doesn't it seem like our tactics are causing more harm than good? It seems counterintuitive, but wouldn't it be better to just laissez-faire? You know, let it do? I could be completely off kilter, but ...

Posted by Alexandra O'Donnell on 03/13/2009 @ 10:32AM PT
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Charles is a nonprofit professional with 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations in Israel, Palestine and the U.S. For the past few years, he's been specializing in online organizing.