The Read International for 1/7/09- Spoke Too Soon: Sarkozy Takes Back Statement As Israel Raid of Gaza Continues

After being buoyed by indications of Israel agreeing to the principles of a ceasefire, French President Nikolas Sarkozy had to turn around and retrace his statement:

The French government initially said Israel and the Palestinian Authority had accepted the proposal, but Israel and Hamas have said the proposal is still under discussion.

However the office of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, later retracted the statement, saying the initial comments were merely a reaction to Israel's positive comments about the plan.

The onslaught into Gaza continues:

Violence has escalated again in Gaza after Israel temporarily halted attacks in Gaza City in the north of the strip for three hours as a "humanitarian respite".

In the latest incident, an Israeli air raid on a car in Beit Lahia, near Gaza's northern border with Israel, killed three children and their father, who was described as a civilian by medical workers in the besieged strip.

The Israeli security cabinet, meanwhile, decided to postpone a vote on expanding its war in Gaza.

Sadly, the ceasefire will only take place after the main bickering of who will stop firing at who first happens. And Israel apparently won't be listening to lameduck Condi.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has urged Israel to accept the deal, Reuters reported, as discussions continued over the deal at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday.

The Security Council was holding a second day of talks on the crisis in Gaza, with Rice also set to meet Arab foreign ministers at the UN.

Planning their next step is what they are doing behind the scenes

Israel's ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday that the Israelis were taking the ceasefire proposal "very seriously".

"I am sure that it will be considered and you will find out whether it was accepted," Gabriela Shalev told reporters in New York. "But we take it very, very seriously."

At the same time, Israel's security cabinet is meeting to discuss an escalation to a "third phase" of the war on Gaza, which would see ground combat from street-to-street, according to two senior Israeli political sources.

The unwillingness to recognize Hamas continues

Mohammed al-Masri, a strategic analyst at Jordan University's Centre for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that the initiative had many shortcomings, including the absence of the Israel lifting of the siege.

"It is not talking about Hamas as a partner, who were elected to govern the Palestinian people. It is not talking about recognising Hamas.

Tamimi said the problem with the Egyptian initiative is that it treats Hamas "as if it is not a player".

"But it is the player," he said. "It is fighting Israel and so cannot be ignored as part of the process."

And man, Hezbollah is voicing support for Hamas. Get this quote from Hassan Nasrallah, the Shia leader in Lebanon:

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters via video link at his stronghold in Beirut's suburbs, Nasrallah said: "I say to [Ehud] Olmert [Israel's prime minister], the loser, the vanquished in Lebanon that 'you cannot overcome Hamas or Hezbollah'."

I dare anyone try to spin this next one, please do. Painful stop to read here:

Around 15,000 Palestinians have had to flee the fighting so far, but have found few safe havens, as Israel and Egypt continue to largely keep border crossings shut.

Heba, a Gaza resident and mother of two, told Al Jazeera there was no place left in Gaza that can be considered safe.

"What happened in the school was a hugely offensive and inhumane thing. We never expected that people who sought refuge in a UN building would be attacked and killed," she said.

At least give the people are place to flee at. Instead, they are locked trapped inside, unable to get out of the mess that represents their current home.

Canada has given $4 million to the UN for Gaza. Boy, what good that will do? (I say that sarcastically indeed).

The mess continues.

Photo from the BBC

And speaking of another mess, both Russia and Ukraine continue to point fingers at each other in the gas conflict not only affected them, but over half of Europe. And the EU is starting to blame both sides for holding a majority of the continent gas hostage.

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