This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- With Israelis cast as villains people wonder about a ground invasion of Gaza
- Turkey and Egypt take the lead in mediating a Gaza truce
- Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ air defense system a game changer
With Israelis cast as villains people wonder about a ground invasion of Gaza
Israeli soldiers gather next to their armored bulldozers stationed on Israel’s border with Gaza on Saturday, awaiting orders for the ground invasion (CNN)
The Israelis are being cast as the villains in the Gaza conflict bypro-Palestinian protesters around the world — in America, Canada,Britain, Russia, Europe, and Iran, as well as in Arab countries.Britain’s prime minister David Cameron expressed his sympathy for theunacceptable rocket attacks on Israel, but said the UK was pressuringboth sides to de-escalate, and urged Israel’s prime minister Netanyahuto do everything possible to bring the conflict to an end.
With worldwide pressure continuing to build on Israel not to launch aground invasion of Gaza, Israeli troops and tanks have been travelingto the border with Gaza but (as of this writing on Saturday eveningET) there’s been no sign that a ground invasion was imminent. The warappears to have reached a kind of stasis — Hamas is launchinghundreds of missiles into Israel, and Israel is launching hundreds ofair strikes at Hamas targets in Gaza. It’s possible that Israel isusing the air strikes to soften up Gaza’s military before a groundinvasion, or it’s possible that Israel has decided that it has nothingmore to gain with a ground invasion than it can get with air strikes.BBC
Turkey and Egypt take the lead in mediating a Gaza truce
What happens next appears to hinge on the negotiating skills ofEgypt’s president Mohamed Morsi and Turkey’s prime minister RecepTayyip Erdogan. The two Sunni Muslim leaders met in Cairo on Saturdayfor an emergency Arab League which, as usual, did nothing more thanissue speeches and declarations. However, Morsi and Erdogan havepersonally committed to bringing about a truce between Hamas andIsrael, and with President Barack Obama having little remainingcredibility in the Mideast, Morsi and Erdogan are best positioned tomediate.
Erdogan vowed support for the Palestinians, and said that sooner orlater, Israel will have to pay the price for the children killed inGaza. He added that Egypt and Turkey are capable of jointly bringingstability to the Middle East, without the need of outside “brokers.”
It appears that the key to any mediation is to convince Hamas andIslamic Jihad to stop launching rockets into Israel. From Israel’spoint of view, that would presumably remove the need for continuedmilitary action, as long as both sides continue to honor the truce formore than a few minutes. Zaman (Istanbul) and Al-Ahram (Cairo)
Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ air defense system a game changer
missiles coming from Gaza. Iron Dome detects incoming missiles and launchesits own missile to intercept and destroy the incoming missile. Accordingto the Israeli military, it works in all weather conditions:
“The radar detects a rocket launch and passesinformation regarding its path to the control center, whichcalculates the predicted point of impact. If this locationjustifies an interception, a missile is fired to intercept therocket. The payload of the interceptor missile explodes near therocket, in a place that is not expected to causeinjuries.”
On Saturday, Jerusalem was saved from an incoming missile by an Iron Domeintercept.
In 2011, Israel’s military said that Iron Dome had a 70% success rate.Over the past three days, 737 rockets from Gaza were fired intoIsrael: 492 landed, but 245 were intercepted by the Iron Dome system.CNN
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