https://sputnikglobe.com/20231012/sy-hersh-how-bibis-opposition-to-two-state-solution-claimed-lives-of-jews-and-arabs-1114146176.html
Sy Hersh: How Bibi's Opposition to Two-State Solution Claimed Lives of Jews and Arabs
Sy Hersh: How Bibi's Opposition to Two-State Solution Claimed Lives of Jews and Arabs
Sputnik International
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mistake has come at great cost for Israel and may lead to huge casualties among Jews and Palestinian Arabs, a knowledgeable source told Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
2023-10-12T16:49+0000
2023-10-12T16:49+0000
2023-12-05T09:22+0000
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Benjamin Netanyahu "is finished," as his decision to allow a group of Orthodox settlers to celebrate Sukkot in the West Bank last week was ill-timed, given the growing tensions between Jews and Palestinians in the region, an Israeli source told Seymour Hersh.On October 6 a group of Jewish settlers were reported to have clashed with local Palestinians in Huwara, a village in the northern part of the West Bank, which resulted in the death of a 19-year-old Arab man.Israeli settlers in the West Bank required "extraordinary protection" over the upsurge in violence. So, Netanyahu gave a nod to local Israeli military authorities to order two of the three Army battalions that controlled the border with Gaza to shift their focus to the Sukkot festival. Given that each battalion comprised about 800 soldiers, 1,600 were sent to shield the Orthodox Jews.Thus, unsurprisingly, the diminished IDF contingent was overrun by Hamas militants on October 7, while Israeli civilians were left unprotected.Hersh's sources called the Saturday attack "the great military failure in Israeli history." He noted that a previous surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria in 1973 claimed the lives of soldiers, while this time peaceful civilians suffered. "Last Saturday twenty-two settlements in the south were under control of Hamas for hours, and they went house to house slaughtering women and children," the insider said.The source believes that this failure means the end of Netanyahu's political career: "[He] is finished. He is a walking dead man. He will stay in office only until the shooting stops . . . maybe another month or two." But not just for Saturday's slaughter: the root of the problem named Hamas goes much deeper, per Hersh's interlocutor.Bibi's Frankenstein to Disrupt Two-State SolutionTo begin with, Benjamin Netanyahu "was always opposed to the 1993 Oslo Accords," the insider said. The agreement envisaged the gradual implementation of the so-called "two-state solution" for Israel and Palestine. It was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiator Mahmoud Abbas in September 1993.Under the agreements, Tel Aviv accepted the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians, and the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace. The document stipulated the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which would assume governing responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.At the time, Netanyahu was out of office: he served as a prime minister between 1996 and 1999 and won the Israeli prime ministership for the second time in 2009. When Bibi returned to office in 2009, he "chose to support Hamas" as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority, "and gave them money and established them in Gaza,” according to the insider.Furthermore, an arrangement with Qatar was made under which hundreds of millions of dollars were directed to the Hamas leadership with Israeli approval, per the source.Meanwhile, it was no secret that Hamas was formed in 1987 as an Islamist militant entity which claimed in its two charters that it did not recognize Israel's right to exist and was ready to resort to all means possible to fight against Israel's "occupation" of Palestine.Ground Op in Gaza to Lead to Huge Human LossesWhat happened on October 7 "was a result of the Bibi doctrine that you could create a Frankenstein and have control over it," according to Hersh's interlocutor.Now, the unfolding havoc requires a military response from Israel, which has already mobilized over 360,000 reservists. Tel Aviv is reportedly bracing for a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. But the problem is that the Israeli ground forces "are not trained for combat," the insider said.The forthcoming operation promises to be a slaughter of great proportions, judging from the insider's account of events. He noted that the Israeli Air Force no longer alerts Arab civilians of bombing raids. Previously, they dropped a small bomb on the roof of a civilian facility to be targeted to give a signal to non-combatants to leave the building. That is not happening now, according to him.Meanwhile, Tel Aviv has imposed a full blockade of Gaza, meaning the civilians have been deprived of food, water, and electricity. "Hamas now only has a two- or three-day supply of purified water and that, along with a lack of food," the insider said, explaining that the rationale behind the move is to draw Hamas out of the city, avoiding house-to-house raids in the city of Gaza.Israel's Western partners have already warned Tel Aviv not to violate the rules of war. At the same time, Hamas does not appear to act rationally and or be capable of earnest negotiations, per Hersh's interlocutor. The more images of Hamas’ violence are shown on TV, "the more Hamas is seen as another ISIS*, time gets short," he said.There may be a general ground invasion with "untold deaths" unless the international community and some third parties step in to broker cessation of hostilities. "The decision to invade in full force is Israel’s, and it has not yet been made," Hersh concluded.*a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other states.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231012/lavrov-return-to-un-obligation-of-establishing-palestinian-state-needed-once-israel-hamas-war-over-1114124717.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231009/palestines-al-quds-brigades-claim-responsibility-for-operation-in-southern-lebanon-1114050708.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231011/palestinians-and-israelis-tell-of-suffering-in-new-gaza-war-1114091402.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231012/live-updates-idf-says-carrying-out-large-scale-strike-on-hamas-facilities-in-gaza-1114121115.html
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Sy Hersh: How Bibi's Opposition to Two-State Solution Claimed Lives of Jews and Arabs
16:49 GMT 12.10.2023 (Updated: 09:22 GMT 05.12.2023) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mistake has come at great cost for Israel and may lead to huge casualties among Jews and Palestinian Arabs, a knowledgeable source told Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
Benjamin Netanyahu "is finished," as his decision to allow a group of Orthodox settlers to celebrate Sukkot in the West Bank last week was ill-timed, given the growing tensions between Jews and Palestinians in the region, an Israeli source told Seymour Hersh.
On October 6 a group of Jewish settlers were reported to have clashed with local Palestinians in Huwara, a village in the northern part of the West Bank, which resulted in the death of a 19-year-old Arab man.
Israeli settlers in the West Bank required "extraordinary protection" over the upsurge in violence. So, Netanyahu gave a nod to local Israeli military authorities to order two of the three Army battalions that controlled the border with Gaza to shift their focus to the Sukkot festival. Given that each battalion comprised about 800 soldiers, 1,600 were sent to shield the Orthodox Jews.
"That left only eight hundred soldiers to be responsible for guarding the 51-kilometer border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel," Hersh's interlocutor said. "That meant the Israeli citizens in the south were left without an Israeli military presence for ten to twelve hours. They were left to fend for themselves."
Thus, unsurprisingly, the diminished IDF contingent was
overrun by Hamas militants on October 7, while Israeli civilians were left unprotected.
Hersh's sources called the Saturday attack "the great military failure in Israeli history." He noted that a previous surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria in 1973 claimed the lives of soldiers, while this time peaceful civilians suffered. "Last Saturday twenty-two settlements in the south were under control of Hamas for hours, and they went house to house slaughtering women and children," the insider said.
The source believes that this failure means the end of Netanyahu's political career: "[He] is finished. He is a walking dead man. He will stay in office only until the shooting stops . . . maybe another month or two." But not just for Saturday's slaughter: the root of the problem named Hamas goes much deeper, per Hersh's interlocutor.
12 October 2023, 07:25 GMT
Bibi's Frankenstein to Disrupt Two-State Solution
To begin with, Benjamin Netanyahu "was always opposed to the 1993 Oslo Accords," the insider said. The agreement envisaged the gradual implementation of the so-called "two-state solution" for Israel and Palestine. It was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiator Mahmoud Abbas in September 1993.
Under the agreements, Tel Aviv accepted the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians, and the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace. The document stipulated the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which would assume governing responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
At the time, Netanyahu was out of office: he served as a prime minister between 1996 and 1999 and won the Israeli prime ministership for the second time in 2009. When Bibi returned to office in 2009, he "chose to support Hamas" as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority, "and gave them money and established them in Gaza,” according to the insider.
Furthermore, an arrangement with Qatar was made under which hundreds of millions of dollars were directed to the Hamas leadership with Israeli approval, per the source.
"Bibi was convinced that he would have more control over Hamas with the Qatari money – let them occasionally fire rockets into southern Israel and have access to jobs inside Israel – than he would with the Palestinian Authority. He took that risk," the source said.
Meanwhile, it was no secret that Hamas was formed in 1987 as an Islamist militant entity which claimed in its two charters that it did not recognize Israel's right to exist and was ready to resort to all means possible to fight against Israel's "occupation" of Palestine.
9 October 2023, 20:34 GMT
Ground Op in Gaza to Lead to Huge Human Losses
What happened on October 7 "was a result of the Bibi doctrine that you could create a Frankenstein and have control over it," according to Hersh's interlocutor.
Now, the unfolding havoc requires a military response from Israel, which has already mobilized over 360,000 reservists. Tel Aviv is reportedly bracing for a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. But the problem is that the Israeli ground forces "are not trained for combat," the insider said.
"Don’t misunderstand – there is confidence in the spirit of the troops but not in their ability to succeed in the ‘special situation’ that the soldiers would be facing in a ground assault" in the city of Gaza, Hersh's source explained.
The forthcoming operation promises to be a slaughter of great proportions, judging from the insider's account of events. He noted that the Israeli Air Force no longer alerts Arab civilians of bombing raids. Previously, they dropped a small bomb on the roof of a civilian facility to be targeted to give a signal to non-combatants to leave the building. That is not happening now, according to him.
11 October 2023, 16:36 GMT
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv has imposed a full blockade of Gaza, meaning the civilians have been deprived of food, water, and electricity. "Hamas now only has a two- or three-day supply of purified water and that, along with a lack of food," the insider said, explaining that the rationale behind the move is to draw Hamas out of the city, avoiding house-to-house raids in the city of Gaza.
"The big debate today is whether to starve Hamas out or kill as many as 100,000 people in Gaza," the source said.
Israel's Western partners have already warned Tel Aviv not to
violate the rules of war. At the same time, Hamas does not appear to act rationally and or be capable of earnest negotiations, per Hersh's interlocutor. The more images of
Hamas’ violence are shown on TV, "the more Hamas is seen as another ISIS*, time gets short," he said.
There may be a general ground invasion with "untold deaths" unless the international community and some third parties step in to broker cessation of hostilities. "The decision to invade in full force is Israel’s, and it has not yet been made," Hersh concluded.
12 October 2023, 04:35 GMT
*a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other states.
