Nathan Thrall has an interesting and informative article in the
London Review of Books on the causes of the latest crisis (which is not, of course, the cause of the whole disaster.)
The current war in Gaza was not one Israel or Hamas sought. But both had no doubt that a new confrontation would come. The 21 November 2012 ceasefire that ended an eight-day-long exchange of Gazan rocket fire and Israeli aerial bombardment was never implemented. It stipulated that all Palestinian factions in Gaza would stop hostilities against Israel, that Israel would end attacks against Gaza by land, sea and air – including the ‘targeting of individuals’ (assassinations, typically by drone-fired missile) – and that the closure of Gaza would essentially end as a result of Israel’s ‘opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents’ free movements and targeting residents in border areas’. An additional clause noted that ‘other matters as may be requested shall be addressed,’ a reference to private commitments by Egypt and the US to help thwart weapons smuggling into Gaza, though Hamas has denied this interpretation of the clause.
ETA Per wiki: Nathan Thrall is an American writer, journalist, and Middle East analyst. He is currently a Jerusalem-based Senior Analyst with the Middle East & North Africa Program of the International Crisis Group covering Gaza, Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank. His writing has appeared in English in The New York Times, The New Republic, GQ, Slate, and The New York Review of Books, and in Arabic in Al-Hayat, Asharq al-Awsat, and Al-Quds al-Arabi. A contributing editor at Tablet Magazine and a former member of the editorial staff of The New York Review of Books, he has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the BBC, NPR, and CNN.
