False claims of victory and peaceful intentions

From Israel Speeds Withdrawal From Gaza (via memeorandum):

It remained unclear what impact the conflict had had on Hamas’s popularity in Gaza. Israeli officials said Hamas had been harmed politically. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz suggested that Hamas was rapidly losing its public support given the extensive damage. “In addition to the diplomatic isolation, I think Gazans understand today that it is Hamas that led them to this reality,” he said during a tour of southern Israel.

But Palestinians here showed little evidence of that attitude.

“I think Hamas is stronger now and will be stronger in the future because of this war,” said Eyad el-Sarraj, a psychiatrist here who is an opponent of Hamas. “This war has deepened the people’s feeling that it is impossible to have peace with Israel, a country that promotes death and destruction.”

From the Jerusalem Post’s Analysis: Trumpets of victory strike false note:

Listening to the commanders of Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, who held a press conference in Gaza City on Monday, one is left with the impression that it was the Israelis, and not the Palestinians, who suffered thousands of casualties and lost nearly half of their weapons during the war.

Hamas’s claim that the movement lost only 48 of its gunmen and that the IAF had used half of its ammunition in air strikes on the Gaza Strip is not being taken seriously by many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

(I will admit that this article suggests Hamas a relatively small portion of its fighters. Yesterday I argued that Hamas likely lost a significant portion of its most effective fighters. Still I don’t think the reason they didn’t fight was tactical, I believe it was cowardice.)

The Times also reports:

King Abdullah exhorted Arab nations to overcome their divisions and urged Israel to embrace an Arab peace plan put forward in 2002 or risk its being withdrawn. He said the peace plan, offering Israel broad Arab recognition in return for significant territorial and political concessions on the Palestinian issue, was “still on the table” but would not always be.

I have no idea why this is even reported. The Saudi peace plan is an ultimatum, demanding a lot and promising nothing concrete in return. Meryl summarizes it nicely:

By the way, the link above, under “Refuse to make any compromise”? It’s from over a year ago. The Saudis have not budged an inch on their insistence that Israel accept their plan, or never have peace. Sound familiar? It should. That’s the Arab way of dealing with Israel. “We lost, so you have to do what we say.”

Crossposted on Yourish.