Operation Protective Edge: 50 Days of Hell on the Gaza Strip

By Lee Bines

Operation Protective Edge: 50 Days of Hell on the Gaza Strip is a lightening fast account of how the unleashing of unbridled violence is met by an uncompromising will to exist. Written in real time, this story chronicles the day by day destruction of schools, shelters, hospitals and residential structures, as the IDF tried to eradicate any form of resistance as quickly as possible.

However with the world watching and the clock ticking, the Palestinian resistance proved to be as elusive as it was resilient. Operation Protective Edge may have run up an impressive body count, but from this observer's perspective, the heavily fortified state of Israel, with its massive military might failed to achieve its objectives. Again!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Bines
• Release date: Sep 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311511140

Lee Bines

The Author:Lee Bines is a geopolitical pundit providing opinion and analysis on specific subject areas (most typically U.S. domestic politics, U.S. foreign policy and current geopolitical issues as they relate to the United States).A satirist and political provocateur, Lee has developed and blended a unique mix of entertainment and social activism through thought provoking conversation.Lee Bines has also been described as a bit of a rogue, a rascal, a renegade, a rebel, a revolutionist and reincarnated Robespierre ready to rant and rave to rattle the rafters of America’s rotting Republic.Managing to push the envelope to the very edge of social acceptability without crossing the line of good taste is a difficult task in today’s media, but Lee Bines has mastered that challenge. When Lee is not gallivanting around the globe seeking entertainment value from man’s inhumanity to man, he can be found in his New York based studio Blogging and Podcasting his findings. This second of many e-books to come is but a sampling of his work.

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Operation Protective Edge: 50 Days of Hell on the Gaza Strip

By Lee Bines

Copyright Notice

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author represents and warrants that s/he either owns or has the legal right to publish all material in this book.

All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Table of Contents

Introduction 5

Israel Runs Out Clock, While Palestinians Seek New Paths 6

Conditions Ripen for Another Intifada 9

ISIS Goes Public, But Israel Goes to Gaza 9

Israel Pounds Gaza Before Ground Invasion 10

Israel Continues Killing Spree With Full US Support 11

Gaza’s Seven Days in Hell and Counting 12

Palestinians: Give Us Liberty or Give Us Death 12

Direct Dialog With Hamas Can Not Be Avoided 13

Israel Unleashes Operation Protective Edge in Gaza 14

Israel Wages War Against Humanity 15

US Outsource Gaza Negotiations to Intermediaries 16

God Knows What Israel Did in Gaza this Summer  17

Day 17: With US Support, Assault on Gaza Rages On 17

Day 21: Israel Blames Gaza Victims 18

Day 22: Using Gaza Like A Private Blood Bank, Israel Withdraws Every Drop 19

Day 23: Lights Bombed Out in Gaza, US Turns Blind Eye 20

Day 24: Despite Unprecedented Carnage, Israelis Cheer Operation Kill-‘Em All 21

Day 25: Gaza Strip Ceasefire Announced, But What’s it Worth? 22

Promising Ceasefire Fails in Hours 22

Day 28: Was Hamas Framed for John Kerry’s Ceasefire Failure? 23

Day 29: Cheap but Lethal U.S. Munitions Used in Gaza 24

IDF Flees Crime Scene, Palestinians Pick Up the Pieces 25

Netanyahu’s Show and Tell Fails to Justify Bloodbath 26

Palestinians to Israel: Our Human Rights Are Not Negotiable 27

Day 35: Israel Competing With ISIS As World’s Most Despised 28

Day 36: Gaza Ceasefire Holds Long Enough to Witness Humanitarian Need 28

Day 37: Bombs Remain Silent Over Gaza, Obama Takes A Breather 29

Day 38: Tense Moments in Gaza, But Cease-Fire 11 Holds 31

Day 39: From Ferguson, Missouri, to Gaza - We Are All Palestinians 32

Day 42: As Palestinians Gain World Support, Israel’s Collapses 33

Day 43: A Unified Palestine is Israel’s Achilles Heel 34

Day 44: Why Would Somebody Sabotage the Gaza Cease-Fire?  35

Day 45: Gaza Bleeds in the Shadow of other Wars  36

DAY 46: Shin Bet Proves Gaza Has A Rat Problem  37

Day 49: Israel Targets Apartment Buildings, Palestinians Eye the ICC  38

Day 50: https://www.blogger.com/%7BCCM:BASE_URL%7D/issuesunderfireEyes off Gaza, While Obama Prepares to Fight A Monster  39

Cairo Brokered Truce Ends Assault on Gaza  40

Facing Intifada 3.0, Israel May Stand Alone 41

Isolated by International Community, Israel Pressured to End Occupation  42

Some things Never Change: Bibi Veers Recklessly to the Right in Last Hours of Election  44

An International Tragedy: Israelis Vote for the Status Quo  45

Introduction

As a story of major interest, this observer has followed the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict since the first Intifada in 1987. In fact, it is because this story seemingly has no ending that I’ve remained attracted to what has become one of the world’s worst hellholes for violence, hate and intolerance. I wanted to know, why?

Since that time, I’ve paid close attention to the so-called Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process and have concluded peace was never the end game because the Peace Process was never more than just a game. Again, I wanted to know, why? In fact, it was because the so-called peace process continued to deliver anything and everything but peace, that my keen interest in issues related to U.S. foreign policy and international affairs was piqued.

I’ve always wanted to know how the world works and the best way to find out was to pay attention to this part of it. There were the Oslo Accords of 1993, and Oslo 2 Accord of 1995, but that only led to the second Intifada in 2000 . After the collapse of Bill Clinton’s Camp David Summit, which ended without an agreement, there was George W. Bush’s Annapolis Conference of 2007, which was planned to lay out a Roadmap for Peace, but of course, that only led to where we are in 2015, with the Obama Administration’s efforts in futility.

As of late, every three years or so, the Israeli government finds it necessary to conduct a major military operation against the Palestinian people and other Arab neighbors who refuse to accept the status quo. They call it mowing the lawn. These military operations are given names like Operation Cast Lead of 2008-2009, Operation Pillar of Cloud of 2012, a.k.a. Pillar of Defense and this latest foray into madness, Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. With a military force second to none in the region and the willingness to unleash the most lethal weapons known to mankind against defenseless men, women and children, I feared the worst for the people of Gaza. When the saber rattling began to ratchet up during April of 2014, I prepared myself to stay with this story (which I covered in real-time for four months) from the first drops of bloodshed until the last tears of mourning had dried. 

Stoked by a fresh series of provocations, once again the Palestinian resistance took the bait and the killing began. And by covering this story, as I knew few would, I finally found out, why. 

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Israel Runs Out Clock, While Palestinians Seek New Paths

After John Kerry’s blunt assessment of how Israel’s settlement announcements and reneging on prisoner release agreements may have complicated talks, international observers openly wonder if peace was ever an option. Delays, deception and diversions perhaps, but peace was never part of the process. 

The Obama administration gave Secretary of State John Kerry his confidence and wide latitude