Essentially, whenever Israeli officials make a peace deal with Palestinians, they seem to think it just means that people in Gaza and West Bank will stop trying to do anything about being wiped out. (Photo: Irsaeli tanks after entering Gaza. Photograph: Tsafrir Abayov/AP)

To quote civil rights activist James Baldwin, “one cannot negotiate with the representatives of one’s oppressors.”

Here’s my news mashup on the curent large-scale invasion of Gaza going on right now. Or rather, how to read the news on Israel/Palestine (color-coded sources cited after):

As Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair slept in one of Bethlehem’s poshest hotels to send a message to the world that the Holy Land is safe for tourists, dozens of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles backed by attack aircraft have invaded the Gaza Strip in the largest Israeli military operation in the area in months.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports Israeli forces have killed at least eight Palestinians on the eve of a new round of peace talks. The Israeli raid comes a day before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Ehud Olmert hold their first set of talks since the Annapolis summit, and immediately following the European Union’s call for Israel to remove its blockade of the Gaza Strip and lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods. After the invasion, a salvo of 18 Qassam rockets from inside Gaza hit the Negev, killing no one. Various militant groups based there claimed responsibility.

During the siege on Gaza, Israel announced plans to build new settlements in East Jerusalem in defiance of international law and the Quartet-backed road map. In response, Hamas on Tuesday called on the Palestinian Authority to boycott the first working session with Israel since last month’s Annapolis conference and Blair told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Wednesday that he understands Israel’s doubts regarding negotiations with the Palestinians, adding that no one really expected Israel to withdrawal from the West Bank anyway. Still he maintained that Israel must proceed in talks regardless.

The attack on Gaza came hours after Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal threatened to cede control of Gaza to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who both Israel and the Quartet view as a viable negotiating partner.

A spokesman for Abbas said that the attack and settlement expansion “aims at laying obstacles before negotiations start” and more PA officials and various factions urged a boycott to talks, but President Abbas dismissed calls to cancel them in spite of Israel’s disregard of all points for negotiation.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip had achieved “very important results.” Meanwhile, American Jews are losing interest in Israel, according to figures released Tuesday in the American Jewish Committee 2007 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion.

Sources: Democracy Now (green) | Reuters (orange) | black (moi) | Guardian (red) | Times Online (purple)|Ha’aretz (blue) | Jerusalem Post (pink) | Ynet News (lime) | Globe and Mail (grey) | The Scotsman (burgundy) |

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