# The Gaza cease-fire - did Kerry screw up? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700 "2014-08-03T07:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/1 "2014-08-03T07:27:55Z")
[https://mobile.mmedia.me/lb/en/mena/558200-israel-to-continue-defensive-operations-during-truce](https://mobile.mmedia.me/lb/en/mena/558200-israel-to-continue-defensive-operations-during-truce) Kerry, announcing the ceasefire deal in the early morning on a visit to India, said Israel and Hamas will “cease all offensive military activities and neither side will advance beyond its current locations.” “Israel will be able to continue its defensive operations for those tunnels that are behind its lines, and the Palestinians will be able to receive food, medicine and additional humanitarian assistance as well as to be able to tend to their wounded,” the top US diplomat told reporters. … “They will continue to do operations to destroy tunnels that pose a threat to Israeli territory…as long as those tunnels exist on the Israeli side of their lines,” the official said on condition of anonymity. … but > **[Israeli shells pound Gaza as fate of missing soldier remains unknown](https://myfox8.com/news/israeli-shells-pound-gaza-as-fate-of-missing-soldier-remains-unknown/)** > > GAZA CITY — The bloodshed in Gaza showed no sign of letting up Saturday, with 50 Palestinians reported killed amid renewed Israeli shelling following accusations that Palestinian militants ca… Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN’s Nic Robertson Saturday that Israel’s presence and destruction of tunnels in Gaza during an agreed-upon cease-fire had been rejected, saying that “a truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it’s an aggression.” “The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories,” Meshaal said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar. He added that Hamas expressed its position to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry via Qatar’s Foreign Minister. “We did not deceive Mr. John Kerry, and we did not deceive the Israelis, we fight honorably,” he said. “We told everyone that this is our position. … Therefore they are the ones who should be responsible for this.” So in his eagerness, did Kerry not hear what Hamas was telling him? Did he mislead the Israelis? Or Is Meshaal lying now? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/2 "2014-08-03T16:44:19Z")
I wonder exactly how these “cease fires” are documented. Is anything signed or is it a “verbal agreement”? Because I don’t remember any documents ever published itemizing the cease fire. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/3 "2014-08-03T16:49:38Z")
Of course. Kerry looks like a fool. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/4 "2014-08-03T17:10:01Z")
It really doesn’t matter what happens in Gaza as long as it somehow makes Obama look bad. That’s the important thing. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/5 "2014-08-03T17:13:38Z")
Now the rallying cry can change to BEN\*\*GAZA! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/6 "2014-08-03T17:39:17Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Of course. Kerry looks like a fool. Bush and Rice didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory. [New York Times January 30, 2006](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/international/middleeast/30diplo.html?pagewanted=all) > [@](#): > > Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Sunday that the United States had failed to understand the depth of hostility among Palestinians toward their longtime leaders. The hostility led to an election victory by the militant group Hamas that has reduced to tatters crucial assumptions underlying American policies and hopes in the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/7 "2014-08-03T17:51:45Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Did he mislead the Israelis? Somehow, I don’t think anyone misled the Isrealis, [given they had perfect knowledge of the negotiations.](http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4553977,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/8 "2014-08-03T18:08:31Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Somehow, I don’t think anyone misled the Isrealis, [given they had perfect knowledge of the negotiations.](http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4553977,00.html) Um - no. That article is talking about negotiations with Abbas, not cease-fire negotiations. And seriously, using unencrypted lines? Just how amateur is Kerry? ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gaza-cease-fire-did-kerry-screw-up/694700/9 "2014-08-04T20:46:58Z")
Any attempts at negotiations by any US politician is a complete and total waste of time and money. The Palestinians will continue firing until the last jew is dead - or they run out of rockets. The Israelis will continue firing until the last Palestinian is naked, unarmed and on the run. These two tribes will continue fighting until one of them exterminates the other. Same with the Sunni-Shia debacle.