This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com
- Purported Gaza-Israel truce deal fails to materialize
- Panicked Gazans run from their homes as Israel drops leaflets on Gaza City
- China is forced to back down diplomatically at an ASEAN meeting
Purported Gaza-Israel truce deal fails to materialize
Hillary Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem on Tuesday (CBS)
Rumors flew on Tuesday that a ceasefire deal between Gaza and Israel
was imminent. Egypt's president Mohamed Morsi was quoted as saying,
"The farce of the Israeli aggression will end today,
Tuesday, and the efforts to reach a ceasefire between the
Palestinians and Israelis will produce positive results within a
few hours."
Sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad also said that there would be a
deal on Tuesday evening, but Israel did not confirm. Israel has said
that a peace deal they would agree to a peace deal only when there are
international guarantees that there would be no further missile
attacks from Gaza for a long period of time. Otherwise, a peace deal
would only be temporary, since Iran would simply take advantage of a
peace deal to supply Hamas with thousands more rockets to be used to
attack Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is currently visiting both
parties in the Mideast with the objective of pressuring both sides to
accept a peace deal. Telegraph (London) and Al-Jazeera
Panicked Gazans run from their homes as Israel drops leaflets on Gaza City
On the seventh day of the Gaza conflict, Israel's air force dropped
leaflets across Gaza City telling residents in Arabic:
"For your own safety, you are required to immediately
evacuate your homes and move toward Gaza City center. ...
This is a temporary confrontation. In the end, everyone will go
home.
In keeping with Israel Defense Forces (army) regulations, all
civilians will be kept from harm's way."
The leaflets directed residents to use specific roads to move out of
their neighborhoods to specific locations. Panicked residents,
fearful of airstrikes, used donkeys and carts to flee to the
designated areas for safety, only to find some times that there was no
room left.
Separately, the army posted the following message on Twitter: "Warning
to reporters in Gaza. Stay away from Hamas operatives and
facilities. Hamas, a terrorist group, will use you as human shields."
Tuesday was probably the most violent day so far in the week old
conflict, with hundreds of missiles and rockets flying back and forth
between Gaza and Israel. AFP and ABC News
China is forced to back down diplomatically at an ASEAN meeting
Not that it's going to make any real difference, but at
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] in Cambodia
this week, China's attempt to win a diplomatic victory over control
of the South China Sea backfired, forcing China to agree to
negotiate disputes through ASEAN, rather than through one-on-one
bilateral negotiations with each country.
In the last couple of years, China has become extremely nationalistic
and belligerent, and has been adopting a policy similar to Hitler's
"Lebensraum" policy in the 1930s, with respect to territories in the
Pacific Ocean, India, and central Asia. In the South China Sea, China
is demanding control of vast regions, including areas historically
belonging to Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
China is using its vast military power to take control of this entire
region, including setting up a military installation in the Paracel
Islands.
Part of China's strategy all along has been to demand negotiations
with each country on an individual basis, so that it could dominate
the negotiations. However, the other countries have been
demanding to force China to negotiate with them as a bloc, to
get them more negotiating power. The United States has been
encouraging this approach, which has infuriated the Chinese,
calling Americans "troublemakers."
At this week's ASEAN meeting, China got its ally, Cambodia,
to put forth a draft agreement saying that all sides had
agreed not to "internationalize" the dispute over the South
China Sea. However, the attempt backfired, as the Philippines
objected to the draft statement, forcing it to be rejected.
As a result, the Chinese representative said:
"China will continue to come back [with] sincere
dialogue with ASEAN countries and to fully implement in an
effective way the DOC so that all parties can accumulate mutual
trust and carry on cooperation and put this issue of South China
Sea in good control so that we can work together to safeguard
peace, stability, cooperation, and development."
China was forced into taking the position diplomatically, but it
doesn't change any reality in the South China Sea. CS Monitor and VOA
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