Israel warns of long Gaza war as Palestinian fighters cross border

US Secretary of State John Kerry (C), speaks with Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah (R) and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu before they make statements to reporters during their meeting regarding a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, in Paris, July 26, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Charles Dharapak) Israeli officials: United States chose Qatar over us The sense of security which Israelis felt until two weeks ago came tumbling down with a crash. Summary⎙ Print The Israeli leadership estimates that the cease-fire initiative of US Secretary of State John Kerry responds well to the interests of Qatar, Turkey, Hamas and its own interests with Qatar — but hardly addresses Israel's security needs. Author Ben Caspit Posted July 29, 2014 Translator(s)Simon Pompan Residents of Israel's southern communities who have been reporting for years that they were hearing digging noises at night are now living in an inconceivable, nightmarish reality. To date, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have unearthed 31 tunnels, but there is concern that the number runs much higher. Worse, even once all the tunnels are ostensibly exposed, there will always be that lingering possibility that one or two still remain. That alone is enough to spell catastrophe for the Israeli home front. Before noon on July 28, five Hamas terrorists burst out of one of these tunnels, not far from kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. Their element of surprise was impeccable. This tunnel had already been tracked down by the IDF and had been taken care of from the Gaza side. As a result, it was “checked off” from the list of effective tunnels. In IDF jargon, the tunnel was “cleared.” But it was anything but “cleared.” The five terrorists emerged from the tunnel with total surprise, killing five IDF soldiers and seizing, according to Hamas, the rifle of one of the Israeli fatalities. Then they fled. Only one terrorist was killed while his four comrades returned via this so-called “cleared” tunnel. But there's more to this story. In northern Israel, too, along the Lebanese border, residents have been reporting for years that they could hear digging noises at night. In the north, the terrain is much less amenable to digging than in loess [sediment of sand and silt] — the common soil in the south of Israel. But if the North Koreans were able to dig tunnels through granite, so can Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. It's all a matter of function and time. Why do they hear those digging noises especially at night? It's because the relative quiet at night augments your auditory sense. Incidentally, an interesting fact that was gleaned from the Israeli defense establishment is that women, more than men, report hearing digging noises at night. It turns out that women have a heightened auditory sensitivity in the wee hours of the night. Women are attuned to hearing their children sleeping in an adjacent room, whereas men tend to dive right into a deep slumber. Until two or three weeks ago, the women who were complaining about the digging noises were thought to exaggerate or “imagine” things. By now it has become clear that they did not. Even 22 days after the start of Operation Protective Edge, where dozens of Israeli soldiers have already been killed in this ongoing stagnation in Gaza, Israel still faces a threat to which a solution has yet to be found. The most difficult problem of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu these days is that he has already maxed out on the limited international credit he had, having wasted the precious time in which a decisive outcome in Gaza could have been reached. Furthermore, other Israeli prime ministers in similar situations always had Washington by their side. This was the case during the Second Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead (2008) and also Operation Defensive Shield (2002). In all those pivotal events, there was an American president who backed Israel, bought it time, defended it at the UN Security Council and in other forums so that the IDF could complete its mission. This time around, however, that's not the case. Perhaps even the opposite is true. The cease-fire proposal made by US Secretary of State John Kerry was unanimously rejected by the Israeli cabinet on July 25. The rejection left the secretary and his entourage totally dumbstruck. From that point on, a diplomatic crisis — perhaps an unprecedented one — unfolded between Israel and the United Sates. It came to a crescendo with a double climax on the evening of July 27. A senior American official held a conference call with Israeli journalists during which he expressed displeasure, disappointment and perhaps even anger at the offensive and baseless statements made against John Kerry and his endeavors. "These were highly offensive allegations," he said. And at exactly the same time, President Barack Obama called Netanyahu and demanded that he reach a cease-fire immediately. A very high-ranking Israeli official — a member of the security cabinet — recapped for Al-Monitor the chain of events in this agonizing affair. What emerges from this recap is the frigid shoulder that the American administration has been giving Israel at its most difficult moments. On the other hand, we can't blame it. For the past five years, Netanyahu has been systematically sabotaging his relations with Obama, showing, among other things, his unwavering support for his Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney. The Israeli premier was actively involved in the campaign to oust Obama during the American presidential campaign. He endorsed business mogul Sheldon Adelson who put down $100 million to this end. Netanyahu also appointed Ron Dermer, a staunch Republican, as his ambassador to Washington. Dermer continues to attend functions held by Adelson ahead of the next attempt to remove Democrats from power. Given this state of affairs, Netanyahu made his own bed and now he's lying in it. “The diplomatic efforts began with the Egyptian initiative,” the senior Cabinet source recounted the chain of events. “Israel accepted it in full. What it meant was an unconditional cease-fire, after which everything was to be put on the table. The Egyptians made it clear that the Rafah crossing would remain closed to Hamas, which they consider to be an enemy. However, they would have no issue with opening the crossing if it were manned by Palestinian Authority officials. “Toeing the line with Israel," the source reported, "the Palestinian Authority also accepted this initiative, as did Jordan. The Egyptians also got the go-ahead from the Arab League. The entire moderate Arab world went along with the Egyptian initiative, except for Hamas and its patrons from Qatar. The Turks, who also represent the Muslim Brotherhood party, sided with the Qatari proposal. What we saw was a power struggle within the Arab world; the moderate Arab world pitted against those countries that still serve the Muslim Brotherhood. It was clear to us that the Americans would go along with us. It's the right thing to do. It makes sense and it's called for.” Well, Israel was in for a surprise. The first surprise was reported exclusively in my article here about two weeks ago, July 18, titled "Israeli Cabinet members blame US for failed cease-fire." "What happened," the cabinet source recounted, "is that John Kerry did back the Egyptian initiative but also added that if it did not work out, there were other options. In other words, he let Hamas understand that there was something to talk about and that the Americans would allow Qatar and Turkey to run the show. Kerry's statement is what unleashed all the problems." "According to our view," the Israeli source said, "there's no room for protection money. We have no intention of paying for a cease-fire. If they want quiet, they have to stop shooting. The lever Qatar has over Hamas should have been used, but not in the way Kerry chose to do it. What should have happened was for the Qataris to convey a message to Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political bureau chief, that his conduct was unacceptable. No one was going to accept dictates from him in lieu of stopping the rockets on civilian communities. The Americans didn't do that." Off the record, Israelis list the many vested American interests in Qatar. In addition to the big American naval base there, there are also mega-arms deals in the pipeline. "The American concept is misguided," an Israeli source has said. "The Americans behave as if they are Qatar's envoys, instead of it being the other way around. If the Americans had told the Qataris that they were calling off the arms deals unless Qatar set Hamas straight immediately, this whole thing would have long been over. But the Americans did the exact opposite." “What the Americans did,” the Israeli source continued, "is to take the Egyptian initiative and add all the demands featured in the Qatari initiative. What they were trying in fact to create is a mechanism that would fund Hamas government the day after a cease-fire was brokered. They were doing this despite knowing full well that transferring or laundering money for Hamas is considered a criminal offense in the United States. We're still shocked by this conduct,” the source said. “How could the Americans,” the source added, "have turned overnight into collaborators at the command of Qatar, Turkey and Hamas? In the initial drafts that were published, they barely mentioned the issue of the tunnels. They talked about ‘security’ in vague terms, ignoring the Israeli need to eliminate [the threat of] the deadly tunnels.” “I went over Kerry's proposal,” the senior source said, “and I was shocked. It had a whole list of things that had to be discussed. The word ‘security’ was inserted toward the end by way of a generality. The strangest and most upsetting thing was the reference to an oversight mechanism with the participation of Qatar and Turkey. Yes, the only elements missing from this equation were Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Al Jazeera.” On July 25, as the Israeli cabinet was deliberating and looking ashen-faced at Kerry's initiative, the secretary of state picked up the phone to talk with Netanyahu. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni was in the room with Bibi (Netanyahu). According to sources, Netanyahu handed the phone over to her. “Listen,” said the Israeli justice minister, who is considered the staunchest supporter of peace in the Israeli government. “I'm looking at your proposal and right now I regret that I'm not Khaled Meshaal. He gets everything he wants. He gets a generous payment for a cease-fire, which strengthens the extremists and weakens the moderates. There is no response here to our security demands and to our right for self-defense.” It was agreed that the parties would continue to talk. A few hours later, as noted, the cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry's proposal. To save the face of the beleaguered Kerry, a briefing was held on July 27. Since I attended that briefing, I think that the objective was not accomplished. Kerry is a well-intentioned man, Israeli officials are saying, but for the time being the results leave a lot to be desired. The facts speak for themselves. Truth be told, Netanyahu isn't the most popular figure in Washington. Yet in these times, Israeli cabinet ministers are saying, we expect Obama and Kerry to draw a clear distinction between the bad guys and the good guys; between peace-seekers and death-seekers; between zealots and moderates; between democracy and Islamic theocracy. Unfortunately, we have been proven dead wrong. Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/netanyahu-abbas-kerry-protective-edge-gaza.html#ixzz38zUlW7T6 =============== Israel warns of long Gaza war as Palestinian fighters cross border Mon, Jul 28 19:59 PM EDT image 1 of 20 By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Crispian Balmer GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A grim-faced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday of a protracted war in Gaza, dashing any hopes of a swift end to the three-week conflict as Palestinian fighters launched an audacious cross-border raid. The Israeli army said five of its soldiers died in two separate incidents, including four in a mortar strike. Local media also reported casualties in the infiltration, but there was no immediate confirmation of this. Inside Gaza itself, eight children and two adults were killed by a blast in a park as an unofficial truce sought by the United Nations for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival collapsed. Residents blamed the explosion on an airstrike, but Israel said a misfiring militant rocket caused the carnage. "It has been a difficult, painful day," Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation. "We need to be prepared for a protracted campaign. We will continue to act with force and discretion until our mission is accomplished," he said, adding that Israeli troops would not leave Gaza until they had destroyed Hamas's tunnel network. Some 1,060 Gazans, most of them civilians, have died in the conflagration. Israel has lost 48 soldiers and another three civilians have been killed by Palestinian shelling. As night fell over Gaza, army flares illuminated the sky and the sound of intense shelling could be heard. The military warned thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes in areas around Gaza City - usually the prelude to major army strikes. The explosion of violence, after a day of relative calm, appeared to wreck international hopes of turning a brief lull in fighting into a longer-term ceasefire. Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists said they had accepted a U.N. call for a pause in hostilities on Monday to coincide with Eid, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Israel initially balked, having abandoned its own offer to extend a 12-hour truce from Saturday when Palestinian rockets kept flying. However, calm gradually descended through the night with just the occasional exchange of fire heard until a series of blasts shook Gaza in the afternoon. TOY GUNS Pools of blood lay on the ground in the Beach refugee camp garden in northern Gaza after it was hit by a huge explosion. "We came out of the mosque when I saw the children playing with their toy guns. Seconds later a missile landed," said Munther Al-Derbi, a resident of the camp. "May God punish ... Netanyahu," he said. At roughly the same time, another blast shook the grounds of Gaza's main Shifa hospital, without causing any casualties. Israel, which has previously accused Hamas fighters of hiding in the hospital, again blamed an errant militant missile. Foreign pressure has been building on Netanyahu to muzzle his forces, with both U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.N. Security Council urging an immediate ceasefire that would allow relief to reach Gaza's 1.8 million Palestinians, followed by negotiations on a more durable cessation of hostilities. Israel wants guarantees Hamas will be stripped of its tunnels and rocket stocks. It worries the Palestinian Islamists will parlay the truce talks mediated by their friends in Qatar and Turkey into an easing of an Israeli-Egypt blockade on Gaza. In his television address, Netanyahu said any solution to the crisis would need to see Hamas stripped of its weapons. "The process of preventing the armament of the terror organization and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip must be part of any solution. And the international community must demand this forcefully," he said. Hamas said its forces had infiltrated Israel to retaliate for the killing of the children in the Beach camp. "His threats do not frighten either Hamas or the Palestinian people, and the (Israeli) occupation will pay the price for its massacres against children and civilians," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. Speaking in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored what he described as a lack of resolve among all parties in the conflict. "It's a matter of their political will. They have to show their humanity as leaders, both Israeli and Palestinian," he told reporters. "Why these leaders are making their people to be killed by others? It's not responsible, (it's) morally wrong." SHELLING Some residents in Gaza reported they had received a recorded telephone message on Monday which said in Arabic: "Listen Hamas, if you are still alive, you should know that if you continue, we will respond, we will respond violently." In another attempt at psychological warfare, Israel dropped leaflets over Gaza listing dozens of names of gunmen from Hamas and its ally, Islamic Jihad, that the military says it has killed since the start of the offensive. An opinion poll broadcast by Channel 10 TV showed overwhelming Israeli public support for continuing the Gaza offensive until Hamas is "disarmed". Deputy Islamic Jihad chief Zeyad Al-Nakhala said mediation had made progress and the group was working with neighboring Egypt to craft a deal. "We are days away from the end of the battle, the clouds will clear and you (Palestinians) will see victory," he told Islamic Jihad's radio station Al-Quds. "We will not accept anything less than ending the blockade." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the region last week to try to stem the bloodshed, his contacts with Hamas - which Washington formally shuns - facilitated by Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Tension between Netanyahu's government and Washington has flared over U.S. mediation efforts, adding yet another chapter to the prickly relations between the Israeli leader and Obama. Repeated U.S.-led negotiations over 20 years have failed to broker a permanent peace deal. The most recent round collapsed in April, with Palestinians livid over Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank and Israelis furious that Abbas had signed a unity pact with old foe Hamas. Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Atteya said Israel had not respected a ceasefire agreement brokered by Cairo that ended the last Gaza war in 2012 and it was time the blockade of the coastal enclave - also enforced by next-door Egypt - was lifted. Israel has signaled it wants a de-facto halt to fighting rather than an agreement that would preserve Hamas's arsenals and shore up its status by improving Gaza's crippled economy. The main U.N. agency in Gaza, UNRWA, said more than 167,000 displaced Palestinians had taken shelter in its schools and buildings, following repeated calls by Israel for civilians to evacuate whole neighborhoods ahead of military operations. (Additional reporting by Amena Bakr in Doha; Writing by Maayan Lubell and Dan Williams; Editing by Crispian Balmer, Paul Taylor and Peter Graff) ============================= U.S. officials defend Kerry from Israeli criticism Mon, Jul 28 18:17 PM EDT image By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Obama administration officials rallied to the defense of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday after withering criticism in Israel of Kerry's failed attempt to secure a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians. The critiques of Kerry centered around ideas that U.S. officials say were sent to Israeli officials, based on an Egyptian draft ceasefire proposal, that would provide for an immediate end to hostilities and talks 48 hours later between Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian officials in Cairo. The confidential draft was leaked to the Israeli news media, which interpreted the proposal as akin to a U.S. effort to get Israel to halt a military campaign aimed at destroying Hamas tunnels in Gaza that militants have used to launch attacks against Israeli soldiers. "John Kerry: The Betrayal," was the headline of an opinion piece in the Times of Israel about Kerry's attempt to secure a ceasefire. "Astoundingly, the secretary's intervention in the Hamas war empowers the Gaza terrorist government bent on destroying Israel," it said. "I must tell you: we’ve been dismayed by some press reports in Israel mischaracterizing his efforts last week to achieve a ceasefire," Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, told a conference of national Jewish leaders. "The reality is that John Kerry on behalf of the United States has been working every step of the way with Israel." The Israeli government has been suspicious of Kerry's motives, particularly after he was caught on a Fox News open mic earlier this month sarcastically describing Israel's offensive in Gaza as a "hell of a pinpoint operation." State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki rejected the criticism, saying Kerry's reason for engaging in the ceasefire effort is to end the rocket attacks against Israel from Hamas. She said she would not assign motivations behind the leaks, but added that "those who want to support a ceasefire should focus on efforts to put it in place and not on efforts to criticize or attack one of the very people who are playing a prominent role in getting it done." At the White House, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said the proposal that was criticized was not a U.S. proposal, but a draft to elicit comment from the Israelis based on an original Egyptian initiative. "Virtually every element that unidentified sources complained about was in the initial Egyptian proposal and agreed to by Israel 10 days before," he said. The criticism from Israel has strained U.S. relations with the Jewish state at a crucial time as the death toll from Israeli-Palestinian violence in Gaza has climbed past 1,000, most of them civilians in Gaza. The United States is Israel's strongest military and financial backer, and successive U.S. presidents who have sought to mediate in the Middle East are always careful to avoid criticism of Israeli leaders. But in the current fighting, Washington has tried to straddle a line between reassuring Israel it has a right to defend itself while also trying to persuade the Israelis to adjust military tactics that are leading to the high death toll. Statements from the White House and the State Department reflect growing concern from U.S. officials about the scale of civilian casualties in Gaza, a death toll that White House national security adviser Susan Rice told MSNBC is of "grave and deepening concern." U.S. President Barack Obama held the latest in a series of phone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. The White House statement from that conversation said that ultimately any lasting solution to the conflict must end "the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza." (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by David Storey, G Crosse and Howard Goller)