All the major media this morning are in sync about the latest developments in Gaza:
“Hamas rejects, Israel accepts Gaza truce proposal” (CBS)
“Israel accepts truce plan; Hamas balks” (Washington Post)
“Israel’s Security Cabinet Accepts Proposal for Cease-Fire” (NY Times)
And so on. Millions of people will glance at these headlines and go about their days thinking, “Israel wants peace, Hamas wants war.” It is a completely false picture — a deception in fact — about what is really happening.
The problem is that Hamas, the elected leadership and political authority in Gaza, was not even consulted about the terms of the cease-fire. It is clear why. The proposed “cease-fire” maintains the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza, a deliberate attempt to cripple and starve the Palestinians, until “the security situation becomes stable.”
This “cease-fire” says to Hamas, in other words, “You stop shooting back, and we will indefinitely impose devastating economic war on your people — until we decide to stop it. If you continue to resist, we will unleash greater airstrikes and you will be to blame for it.”
This is not a “cease-fire.” It is a demand for surrender, which would achieve Israel’s strategic objectives. Hamas’ military wing quickly responded to the sham proposal with a statement that “it is not worth the ink that wrote it.”
Israel and Egypt knew Hamas would reject such a “cease-fire.” This was a public relations stunt from the beginning, designed to create the very headlines we are seeing this morning.
Egypt’s military rulers, which this week repressed pro-Palestinian demonstrations and recently banned Hamas activity as part of its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, clearly coordinated the stunt with the Israeli rulers and the U.S. government. They are not the neutral third party they claim to be.
As the images continue to come out of the horrific Israeli massacres of Palestinians — at least 185 confirmed dead, including 38 children, 1,390 wounded — the media is now directing the public to blame these atrocities not on those who perpetrated them, but on Hamas for abstaining from peace.
No Israelis have been killed. The people of Gaza have been subjected to a one-sided war, enduring constant airstrikes in the most densely populated city on the planet. The demand for peace must be directed not at those under bombardment, but at the war criminals in Tel Aviv, and their backers in Washington.
There have been demonstrations against the Israeli assault in dozens of cities across the United States, and throughout the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa. Worldwide, people are seeing through the propaganda, and identifying with the Palestinian struggle as the front-line battle against colonialism and racism.
