Hamas proposes one year Truce,
Seeking way out like a lost Goose,
Two day shots of some 50 Rockets,
Ceasefire Sideshow Afore Stopping,
Hamas is launching multiple Rockets,
Trying To Be Able TO CLAIM A Victory,
With a TRULY MANGLED Infrastructure,
A show of Islamic Pride and Arrogance,
They Fanatically Issue The Propaganda,
Stupid Enough To Believe it Themselves,
Caught in a box canyon with no way out!
January 16, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Everyone and his brother in the international community is now trying to have a part in ending the Gaza Strip conflict, and most of them are anxious to do it to the disadvantage of Israel. I would like to see the conflict continue for another couple of weeks to allow Israel to find the vast bulk of the Hamas hidden weaponry across the entire Strip, but it is unlikely for the conflict to continue that long. I am hoping we will have a time of relative “peace and safety” following the conflict for at least a year after Israel pulls out of the Strip.
Begin Excerpt 1 from Arutz Sheva
Hamas Offers Ceasefire, Threatens Revenge
Tevet 19, 5769, 15 January 09 09:50
by Maayana Miskin
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas has offered to stop attacking Israel for one year if Israel will open its western Negev crossings to Gaza, Egyptian officials announced Thursday night. The group demands that Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza within one week and refrain from any and all operations in the area while the ceasefire lasts.
Also on Thursday night, Hamas’s Az a-Din el-Kuds Brigades, a branch of the Hamas armed forces, said they would take revenge for the death of Hamas minister Said Siyam. Siyam was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday evening along with his brother, another senior Hamas leader.
“His blood was not shed in vain.
The response will be expressed in deeds, not words,” Hamas terrorists threatened.
Egyptian media sources reported earlier in the evening that Israel had in principle accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
Israeli officials demanded certain changes to the plan, Egyptian diplomats said. Those demands will be presented to Hamas leaders in upcoming meetings.
Senior Defense Ministry official Major-General Amos Gilad returned from Cairo on Thursday after meeting with Egyptian diplomats to discuss progress in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Gilad met with Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss the issue.
The ministers are reportedly split on whether to seek a ceasefire at the current time.
Crossings Opened in exchange for Shalit?
According to Channel 10 news, Israel is willing to open Gaza crossings as part of the ceasefire deal. In exchange, Hamas would be required to reduce its demands regarding the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
The group is currently demanding the release of over 1,000 terrorists, including senior terrorists who bear direct responsibility for multiple murders.
If Hamas scales back its demands, a deal could be reached that would lead to Shalit’s release, political analysts say. Barak met with Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, on Thursday, apparently to discuss developments in Gaza and the negotiations with Hamas.
Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post
Livni sets out to US to sign deal on preventing arms smuggling
January 15, 2009
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
Foreign Miniser Tzipi
Livni embarked late Thursday night for the United States to sign an agreement with Washington which aims to put an end to arms smuggling from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.
Foreign Ministry Director-General Aaron Abramovich had been in Washington for talks on the agreement, which would intensify intelligence cooperation in efforts to block smuggling routes before the weapons make it to tunnels linking the Sinai Peninsula to the Strip.
After US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and said the US would sign the agreement, the premier gave Livni approval to fly to the US. Coupled with Egyptian commitments to step up their own efforts along the border together with international assistance, the agreement would be part of a mechanism Israel has demanded as
part of a cease-fire.
Earlier Thursday evening, Olmert met his two top ministers and a senior Defense Ministry official to discuss Hamas’s response to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal and whether it met Israel’s requirements for halting Operation Cast Lead.
Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Livni were briefed by Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry’s Diplomatic-Security Bureau, who traveled to Cairo earlier in the day for a meeting with Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
The three decided that Gilad should once again travel to Cairo on Friday to discuss Israeli requirements for a truce, and only after he returned would a decision be made on whe ther to bring
the proposal to a vote in the security cabinet.
Unconfirmed reports late Thursday night suggested a “time out” could start within 72 hours, leading to a two-week truce in which a more lasting arrangement could be finalized.
The meeting took place as both diplomatic activity and the military operation in the Gaza Strip intensified, with IDF forces moving into Gaza City.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held high level talks in Israel on Thursday, calling for a cease-fire, as did German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Since the beginning of the military operation in Gaza, Olmert has said its goals were to end the rocket fire on the South and stop the smuggling of arms.
Although details of the potential cease-fire agreement are still fluid, the basic parameters are an immediate end to the fighting followed by an IDF withdrawal after it becomes clear Hamas has stopped firing rockets on Israel.
Once Israel pulls out, Egypt – together with technical and logistical assistance from the international community – will establish a mechanism to stop arms smuggling. This will be augmented by the agreement between Israel and the US.
The next step will be indirect talks through the Egyptians regarding the opening of the Gaza crossings and the release of kidnapped soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit. According to Israeli officials, what still needed to be worked out was a timetable for the IDF withdrawal, as well as the duration of the cease-fire.
In addition, according to various reports, certain disagreements have emerged regarding some arrangements. For instance, on the question of the Rafah crossing, both Israel and Egypt want to see it opened under EU monitors, with a Palestinian Authority presence, and not Hamas. Hamas, however, is demanding a presence as well.
As to the Philadelphi Corridor, Israel was interested in a significant international presence, while both Egypt and Hamas were opposed.
Hamas officials told Egypt they were prepared to accept a one-year truce, with the possibility of subsequent renewals, provided that Israel withdrew all troops from Gaza within five to seven days and all border crossings were immediately opened, diplomatic sources said. They also sought international guarantees that the crossings would stay open, the sources added.
These positions did not differ markedly from earlier Hamas stances, and underline that there are still striking differences between the two parties in their indirect, Egypt-mediated talks on a cease-fire.
Other Hamas officials were quoted Thursday night rejecting the Egyptian proposal and demanding unspecified changes.
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal claimed on Thursday that Israel “has not broken Hamas” and “has not broken the resistance.” He asserted that not a single Hamas rocket launcher had been hit and said more Israelis had been killed than Hamas operatives in the three weeks of fighting.
While the focus of Thursday’s efforts was in Cairo, the UN’s Ban was pressing for a cease-fire during talks in Israel.
Ban, who was informed soon after he arrived that the IDF had shelled the UNRWA compound in Gaza City, said that the death toll in the Gaza operation had reached an “unbearable point.”
At a press conference with Livni after their meeting, he said he believed that “certain elements were in place that would enable a cease-fire, but it all hinges on the political will of both sides.”
“Clearly a return to the status quo ante can be no option,” Ban said. “If a cease-fire is to be sustainable, we need arrangements to ensure a halt to the re-supply of weapons to Gaza militants, a reopening of the crossings, a release of Cpl. Schalit, and that Gaza is reunited with the West Bank under one legitimate Palestinian authority.”
Ban expressed “strong protest and outrage” at the shelling of the UNRWA compound and said he phoned Barak after hearing about it.
Barak “said to me it was a grave mistake and took it very seriously.”
The two met later in the day, and Barak issued a statement that stopped well short of an apology. According to the statement, Barak told Ban – as well as the head of the International Red Cross, Jacob Kellenberger, with whom he met earlier in the day – that Hamas was using civilians as human shields and firing at IDF soldiers from positions near UN installations.
“The IDF soldiers are responding, and will respond, as an act of self defense against any attempts to harm them,” Barak said.
Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report.
Begin Excerpt 3 from DEBKAfile
Israel air strike kills top Hamas leader, interior minister Siad Sayam
January 15, 2009, 8:29 PM (GMT+02:00)
Palestinians sources confirm that Siad Sayam died in an Israeli aerial strike over Gaza, Thursday, January 15, as the third week of Israel’s offensive ended. Killed with him were his brother, Salah Abu Sarah, head of the organization’s security service and Mahmoud Watfa, commander of Hamas military wing. In Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal declared there would be no concessions for a ceasefire.
The Shin Bet security service discovered the top Hamas leaders’ whereabouts in Gaza with exceptional speed since the hideout demolished in the Israeli air attack had been rented by Sayam’s brother only two weeks ago when the war was already being fought. The precise targeting indicates that Israeli intelligence has penetrated the top Hamas echelon.
The dead leader planned and executed the June 2007 coup plot which ousted the Palestinian Authority and its chairman Mahmoud Abbas from the Gaza Strip.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that Israel is racing against time to prevail over Hamas before an enforced ceasefire cuts the campaign short before its goals are achieved.
Begin Excerpt 4 from DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
Emerging Gaza ceasefire allows Hamas to restock rockets – and fire them
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
January 15, 2009, 7:55 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile’s military sources sum up the Egyptian-Hamas ceasefire accord presented to Israel as no better than a repeat formula of last year’s failed informal truce, which led to the outbreak of the current Gaza fighting.
One senior officer told us: For this we didn’t have to go to war.”
Now as then, Egypt is fashioning separate understandings with Hamas and Israel. While tying Israel’s military hands, these deals permit Hamas to claim it has come out of the fighting ahead, after Israel refrained from either toppling its Gaza government or extinguishing its missile capabilities.
Thursday, Jan. 15, two Israeli envoys headed out – the foreign ministry’s director general Aharon Ambramovich to Washington and the defense ministry’s political adviser Amos Gilead to Cairo – to hear about the proposed American and Egyptian ceasefire mechanisms for controlling weapons smuggling through Sinai and the Philadelphi Corridor. Hamas took this as a signal to intensify its assaults on the southern Israel population: 20 missiles and rockets were launched before 10:00 a.m.Thursday; 23 Wednesday, one of which landed more than 70 km from Gaza – the furthest distance ever reached by a Hamas rocket.
DEBKAfile’s military sources note that even if the two mechanisms are agreed between the US, Egypt and Israel, it could be a year or more before they are in place. Only then, can their efficacy begin to be tested. All that time, Hamas will be free to restock its arsenal through the Philadelphi smuggling tunnels and calibrate its missile fire – in exactly the same way as Hizballah replenishedd its armory from Syria and Iran after the 2006 war and still shoots rockets at will under the noses of UN monitors.
Therefore, although easily vanquished on the battlefield, the Hamas terrorists are winning the diplomatic war against a compliant Israel.
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