That ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is proof that, when serious and earnest minds make it essential to have something done to stop the misery, they can, in fact, stop the misery.

But make no mistake.  Nothing like that has happened here.  Not in this case.

Yes, there’s a “ceasefire,” or what they refer to as one, but honestly there’s been no “cease” to the “fire,” and that’s something that lay squarely at the feet of the Israelis.

Israel has emerged as the undisputed “victor’ in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, pretty much levelling the place and breaking untold numbers of rules and conventions that are stated as being important to the international community, the same community that looks the other way as Israel launches as new offensive in Gaza in complete violation of the “agreed-to” ceasefire.  Over the past 48 hours, over 90 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, many of whom were sheltering in “humanitarian” zones that were designated by Israel itself as “safe havens” for innocent “non-combatants.” 

The use of italics and that many quotation marks is an indicator of how slippery the slope is here, and how one side’s interpretation of facts on the ground differs from another.