Hamas ready for peace, Russians say
(CNN) -- The exiled leader of Hamas is ready to stop the fighting with Israel in exchange for an end to the blockade on Gaza, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday.
The leader, Khaled Mashaal, spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday and outlined Hamas' position on the resumption of the Palestinian reconciliation process, the foreign ministry said.
Source.
Uh, excuse me. Back up a moment. In fact, let's back up a week or so to CNN's own story from December 19th:
Rockets fired from Gaza as fragile cease-fire ends
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian militants fired more rockets into Israel on Friday as a tenuous six-month truce between Hamas and Israel expired.
...
Under the Egytian-brokered truce, which began June 19, the Hamas government in Gaza agreed to end militant attacks from Gaza on Israel. The pledge applied to all militant groups in the coastal territory, including Islamic Jihad.
In return, Israel agreed to halt raids inside Gaza and ease its blockade.
The truce held well for the first four months but began to fall apart in October, when there was a marked increase in the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel -- estimated at 200. Israel resumed airstrikes in Gaza as a result.
So let's work this backwards. There was a 'marked increase' which led to 'resumed airstrikes in Gaza as a result', causing the cease fire to 'fall apart' and Hamas to fire "more rockets" into Israel. Israel launched a tremendous offensive to stop more rockets, and now Russia says that Hamas is "ready to stop the fighting with Israel."
Look, you may think we're stupid, but we're not. We heard this from Nasrallah in '06, in fact. "We didn't expect a war," were his exact words. Guess what? We're a little wiser this time 'round. We're not falling for it.
Hamas instigated this, like some schoolyard weenie who aggravates some bigger kid for months until one day, that big kid gets up and calmly starts to pound that little punk into the asphalt. Broken and bleeding, the little moron says, "Okay you can stop now." Oh really? I think not.
Hamas wanted a war. They spoiled for this fight. Now it's here. Take it like a man, you pussies. Whether or not we lost the last war is debatable. You can be DAMN sure we're not going to lose this one. Why?
1) No pathetic excuse for a MinDef this time. Barak, for all his dovish tendencies, led men into war. It's not something to be proud of, it's something he's been trained to do.
2) Olmert has nothing to lose. If trying to give everything away didn't work, maybe he can earn a few right-of-center mandates for his party by giving them this little war. Might even commute his sentence a little.
3) Livni has everything to gain. If we go into the booths while they're burying Haniyeh, she'll crush Netanyahu.
4) Netanyahu has everything to gain and everything to lose. He's had 15 years to brush up on his politicking. If he doesn't pounce at the first show of backing off, he'll drown.
5) We actually did have to invade another country. This time, we don't. I would love for them to start calling this a police action. In fact, why wait? That's what I'm calling it.
So launch your little "nuisance rockets" if you dare. Yeah, you'll probably cause more damage, might even kill a couple more babies in your "legitimate resistance to the occupation." But savor it while you can, because Israel's got your number, punk.
Oh and thanks for the blatantly obvious hypocrisy, CNN. Again.
