Word: arab
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...wholly invalidates the popular claim that Israel is targeting only Hamas. According to Eisenkot, anyone within these “civilian villages” becomes a justifiable military target, including young children. Collective punishment is a far too diplomatic term for such a ruthless strategy. Ali Abunimah, a prolific Arab-American author and blogger, perhaps put it best when he asked, is this a taste of the “bigger shoah” (Hebrew for Holocaust) that Israel’s deputy defense minister threatened...
...Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, has repeatedly stressed that by weakening Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli military operation will boost moderate Arab leaders threatened by radical Islamist groups. But the opposite may be occurring, as pan-Arab cable news channels carry round-the-clock coverage of civilian suffering in Gaza. Amid the wave of outrage against Israel and those Arab leaders accused of enabling its offensive, even leaders who had initially blamed Hamas for the crisis have been forced to revert to boilerplate denunciations of Israel. Hamas leaders insist that their political and security infrastructure remains intact, and they...
...have met [Mashaal] question his leadership qualities. A senior Arab official with decades of experience came away particularly impressed with his 'willingness to learn,' which he noted was rare indeed for those at his level. The question, rather, is whether...[his] brand of militant pragmatism will continue to hold sway within the Hamas leadership." -Mouin Rabbani, in a preface to a Mashaal interview published in the Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring...
...Israel's Gaza campaign has actually strengthened Hamas politically, even in the West Bank, while further weakening Abbas. Without his cooperation with Israel, Abbas knows that Hamas could easily take control of the West Bank too. The longer the Israeli offensive continues, the greater the damage to all the Arab moderates the U.S. has been hoping to rally in an alliance against the likes of Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizballah. Knowledge that pummeling by the Israelis will shift more political support from moderates to Hamas is no doubt fueling diplomatic efforts to force a truce...
...Hamas leaders say they're ready for a cease-fire, but only if it includes the opening of the border crossings whose closure has kept Gaza in an economic chokehold. That's something neither the Israelis, nor Hamas' Arab and Palestinian enemies, have been keen to allow. The pounding being suffered by Gaza may force the issue, however. One option diplomats may seek would be to have the crossings be controlled by a neutral force. So, the closing days - however long they extend - of the Israeli campaign are principally about shaping the terms of a truce...