ANALYSIS – Hamas offered the Israelis terms for a ceasefire  – an end to the blockade of Gaza,  and no more assaults from its neighbour – they were not unreasonable but Benjamin Netanyahu ignored this preferring instead a deal brokered by the military regime of Egypt which he knew would never be accepted by the Palestinians as well as Hamas who the Israeli war machine will never defeat.
Likud who are the ruling government in Israel are extremists in a political system dominated by ever more extreme views, something that has sadly filtered down to everyday level. Today it is rare to hear voices from the Peace Now activists who have demonstrated against this attack on the Palestinians as they have for every assault since Sabra and Shatila. For Israeli society is dominated by views amplified by Netanyahu and were he ever to stray from the hymn sheet he would be replaced by someone ever more ridiculous,  ever more belligerent as well as ever more deadly.  Hamas believes that everything should be open for discussion were the Israelis to meet them seriously around the table for a long term peace initiative, that includes Israel’s right to exist.  Instead of understanding this or wanting to understand this, the Israeli leadership have dubbed this their right to fight for their life, their war for independence that began in 1948 and their high tech army has continued on its murderous path to this day. They know that their ally, the US will not lift a finger to change their approach,  for like the Israeli PMs the American Presidents know they must speak from the same hymn sheet when it comes to the Zionist state and its murderous dealings with the unfortunate people called the Palestinians.
If this is indeed Israel’s war for independence,  then the Palestinians who are clearly the people under attack from colonists are fighting a war for independence like that the Algerians fought against the French.
That conflict ended after 150 years with the resistance smashed but the French knowing that politically their position was untenable.
And unfortunately,  Israel’s myopic and reactionary political leadership are leading the people they claim to be protecting to same fate as the French.