Since the writing of this article on Sunday, July 20, the death toll in Gaza rose above 600 on Tuesday (July 22) as emergency teams pulled dead bodies from the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli air strikes and artillery attacks on the 15th day of the assault.
"Gaza ceasefire hopes switch to Qatar as Arabs divided over Israeli offensive," this headline of the Guardian of July 20, 2014 best reflected the collusion of major Arab states in the Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.
According to AFP, as of July 20, The Palestinian death toll soared to 438 with around 100 Palestinians killed in one day on Sunday (July 20).
Hamas last week rejected an Egyptian proposed ceasefire which envisaged end of Hamas rule in Gaza. Hamas describe it as "not in the best interests of the Palestinian people." Not surprisingly, Israel and the PA accepted this proposal.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, a key element of the Egyptian initiative is the return of Pro-Israel President Mohammad Abbas's Palestinian Authority to Gaza, which is no ruled by Hamas after winning elections in 2006.
Egypt told Hamas that any opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt would entail the return of Abbas's presidential guard with no Hamas men present, the Guardian quoted a senior Palestinian official as saying.
Hamas's conditions for a ceasefire include "an end to aggression against the Palestinian people", lifting the blockade on the territory and opening the Rafah crossing; freedom of movement for Palestinians in the area bordering Israel, freeing prisoners rearrested after being exchanged for a seized Israeli soldier, and extending the territory's fishing zone.
It is argued that Israel's all-out assault on Gaza was not possible without a military coup in Egypt. The Israeli massacre of Palestinians came one year after the military coup of July 3, 2013 when Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohammad Morsi was imprisoned by the military junta led by General Abdel Fattah Sisi.
The regime of General Sisi, who has declared himself as Field Marshal, has declared the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to be a terrorist organization. Similarly the Egyptian regime has also declared Hamas a terrorist organization and, like the Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Hamas supporters have been arrested. Thousands of MB supporters are in prisons while hundreds have been sentenced to death.
Tellingly, Azza Sami of the Egyptian semi-official newspaper Al-Ahram, commenting of the Israeli massacre of Palestinians said: "Thank you Netanyahu and may God give us more [people] like you to destroy Hamas!" This change in Egyptian sentiments was possible only after the overthrow of the elected government of President Morsi.
It is obvious why President Morsi was imprisoned. President Morsi was not pro-Israel and pro-US like his predecessors, President Hosni Mubarak and President Anwar Sadat.
In contrast to imprisoned President Mohamed Morsi, a staunch backer of Hamas, Egypt's new military government dealt a crippling blow to the organization by demolishing hundreds of the tunnels used to bring goods into Gaza, which has been under Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2006.
Following the Egyptian lead, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have also banned the Muslim Brotherhood.
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