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2 Responses to “Gaza: Truce Without Hope”

1. ellen says:

   June 20, 2008 at 6:03 AM

   “In Israel, some officials suggested that the main purpose of the agreement was to give legitimacy to a future military offensive, so that Israeli leaders could claim that they had exhausted all other possibilities first.”

   Exactly true.
   I have come to dread “cease-fires” because they inevitably wind up with worse conditions for Gazans.

   Reply
2. Peter D says:

   June 20, 2008 at 1:29 PM

   An interesting article about a moderate Hamas spokesman being optimistic about the truce:

   http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/994774.html

   One very important point he mentions:
   “Israel mustn’t pass up such an agreement with Hamas – otherwise an ideology more extreme than Hamas will be the result. Israel has to understand that nowadays, Hamas is a factor that balances the radical and out-of-control voices in both the Arab and the Muslim world.” ”

   It end with a somewhat ominous twist: the Fatah people openly expressing their hope that the truce will collapse:

   “But the Fatah member nonetheless remained optimistic when asked whether the cease-fire would weaken his organization. In his view, the truce is too fragile to last and to have an impact on reality. “Today, you can’t really say that Hamas has total control over the Gaza Strip; it’s quite likely that the small organizations will violate the cease-fire,” he says. “On the other hand, I’m sure that Israel won’t abide by the cease-fire either. Besides, for now at least, it looks like the Rafah border crossing will remain closed. If it doesn’t open, the truce won’t last very long.”

   It is a twist, because in the past one could usually count on an “alliance” of Hamas and Israel to sabotage any cease fire between Israel and Palestinians.

   Reply