SUPPLEMENT TO THE PREVIOUS BLOG – STILL HOLDING MY BREATH 15 PLUS HOURS AFTER ISSUING PREVIOUS BLOG!
Nove
mber 26, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
A s
I indicated in the previous BLOG, it will take a minor miracle for the hudna (ceasefire agreement) to hold together very long. The Islamic Jihad and Hamas are still launching Kassams after the ceasefire
began, but the Israeli Prime Minister has issued orders of restraint to
the IDF to give the Palestinian Authority government time to stop the launches. The main question is: How long will Israel let the rocket attacks go on?
In order to give as clear a picture of this latest ceasefire agreement, I have included three newspaper articles on the scenario, one from the BBC, one from the Jerusalem Post, and one from DEBKAfile.
The stiff terms for the ceasefire by Hamas, listed in the DEBKAfile article, made it doubtful that the hudna will hold.
Begin BBC Article
Israel vows Ceasefire ‘Patience’
BBC News
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel will show “patience and restraint”, despite rocket fire from Gaza hours after a ceasefire began.
Mr Olmert said he hoped the ceasefire would also be applied to the West Bank and ultimately lead to a peace deal.
At least three rockets were fired into Israel, one of which landed in the town of Sderot, without causing harm.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said all Palestinian factions have reaffirmed their commitment to the ceasefire.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered his security forces to enforce the truce.
The US has welcomed the ceasefire, calling it a “positive step forward”.
Peace hopes
Speaking on a visit to a school in southern Israel, Mr Olmert said Israel had “the strength to show the patience and restraint to allow the ceasefire to take hold.
“I have personally told our security forces to show restraint,” he added
He said he hoped the agreement “can be extended into the West Bank and that it can lead to serious, direct negotiation which could lead to a full settlement”.
In the wake of the rocket-fire, Mr Abbas ordered the Palestinian security forces to deploy in northern Gaza and enforce the ceasefire, Palestinian security sources said.
The BBC’s Alan Johnston in Gaza says it is not clear whether this means that the security men will actually be expected to use force against militants who might be about to launch rockets.
They have been reluctant to do so in the past, he says.
Hamas’ armed wing said it launched the attacks because some Israeli troops were still in Gaza, east of the town of Jabaliya, despite the Israelis saying they had pulled out all their troops overnight.
A statement from the smaller Islamic Jihad group, which also claimed responsibility, said it would not agree to a ceasefire while Israeli military activity continued in the occupied West Bank.
Our correspondent says it quickly became clear that leaders of the two groups were work ing to try to re
in in their armed men.
Prime Minister Haniya said that in the aftermath of the early violations all the factions have recommitted themselves to the ceasefire.
“Contacts were made with the political leaderships of the factions and there is a reaffirmation of the commitment of what has been agreed to,” Reuters news agency quoted Mr Haniya as saying.
Offensive ‘suspended’
Mr Abbas telephoned Mr Olmert on Saturday night to say he had agreement from all Palestinian factions that they would stop their rocket fire.
Mr Olmert’s spokeswoman Miri Eisin told the BBC that the prime minister had agreed that Israeli forces would not initiate any offensive action after the ceasefire began.
Shortly after the truce came into effect, the Israeli army confirmed that all its troops had left Gaza.
Israel evacuated its settlements and military bases in Gaza last year after 38 years in the territory, but the military renewed ground operations after militants captured an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, in a border raid in June.
End BBC NEWS Article
Begin Jerusalem Post Article
13,000-strong PA force deploys along Gaza Border
Yaakov Katz, Herb Keinon, JPost Staff and AP
November 26, 2006
A 13,000-strong Palestinian Authority security force deployed along the border with Gaza on Sunday evening as the cease-fire that went into effect early Sunday morning showed signs of holding.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed the IDF earlier Sunday to show restraint despite repeated Palestinian violations of the cease-fire agreement.
Olmert, speaking at an inauguration ceremony for a new high school in southern Israel, said he wanted to give the cease-fire a chance to succeed.
Olmert “gave the security forces instructions to show restraint and to try and give the cease-fire the possibility to succeed,” said Miri Eisin, Olmert’s spokeswoman.
“Israel is a strong country which can allow itself to have the strength to both fight and also to show restraint and to give the cease-fire a chance to be implemented,” Eisin quoted Olmert as saying.
The cease-fire announcement prompted quick reactions from a number of MKs, with some expressing their support, but most voicing their disapproval.
“It’s too bad we didn’t talk much earlier,” Meretz MK Ran Cohen said to Israel’s Channel 1 Sunday evening.
“Before all of the injured and dead. We could have done the cease-fire on much better ground.”
MK Arye Eldad (National Union-NRP) said earlier in the day that the “government doesn’t have much reason to celebrate the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.”
Eldad, referring to Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, added that “these weak people couldn’t stop the attacks on Israel, and are therefore ready to allow Hamas the necessary time to turn Gaza into southern Lebanon.”
“Olmert and Peretz are serial failures,” Eldad concluded.
National Union-NRP chairman Benny Elon seemed to agree, saying that “Olmert has once again tricked the public with a cease-fire that blew up in his face.”
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, however, after Palestinians continued to rockets at Israel in breach of the cease-fire agreement, told Army Radio that Israel cannot allow for Kassams to be fired at its citizens, but that some irregularities were to be expected during these hours.
Livni said that Israel “is at the beginning of a new day,” and that “the coming hours will dictate the nature of the cease-fire.”
Regarding an Israeli response to the ongoing Kassam fire, Livni said that if Israel were aware of attempts to launch rockets, they must be stopped – but the Palestinians must be allowed to stop them first.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, met with his security chiefs Sunday and ordered them to send their forces to the Gaza border area to prevent any more rocket attacks, according to Palestinian security officials. It was not clear what action the forces would take against those launching rockets.
A total of five Kassam rockets were aimed at Israel since the cease-fire went into effect at 6 a.m.
One struck a house in Sderot at 5:30, wreaking havoc. The father of the family had managed to wake his children and shepherd them into the bomb shelter a mere 10 seconds before the rocket impact.
Another landed in the vicinity of the Sderot cemetery.
Three Kassam rockets were fired from Gaza a short while earlier despite the cease-fire agreement with Palestinian factions, which was followed by the IDF’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
One of the rockets landed in open territory in the western Negev, while the other landed in northern Sderot. No one was wounded and no damage reported as a result of any of the rocket attacks.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for three of Kassam rockets fired at Israel.
Hamas reported on the group’s official Web site that they had launched rockets into Israel at 7:30 a.m. and 7:55 a.m., saying they had not stopped their attacks because some Israeli troops remained inside Gaza.
The Givati infantry Brigade, which had been conducting anti-Kassam operations, left Gaza early Sunday morning.
The IDF was still holding a defensive posture, however, along the Gaza security fence.
Southern Command sources added that the IDF would not initiate any offensive action in the Gaza Strip, including a cessation of targeted killings.
One of the big questions about the cease-fire remains what would happen if terror groups continued arms smuggling by use of underground tunnels. Sources in Southern Command said Sunday morning that they were still waiting clarification regarding a planned IDF response to such a scenario.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz convened a meeting of top defense officials Sunday morning to discuss the possible consequences of Israel’s decision to accept the cease-fire agreement with the Palestinians on future IDF operations.
Peretz said, “Any rocket fire at Israel will be considered a breach of the cease-fire and will be dealt with severely,” and that, “Israel is interested in calm but not at the cost of harm inflicted on its citizens.”
The defense minister added that if Abbas and the terror factions were not able to stop the rocket attacks, Israel would see this as a clear breach of the cease-fire and would take action to protect its citizens.
“Let’s hope that’s just the problems of the beginning,” government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said. “But if Israel is attacked, we will respond. If there are Palestinian factions that are not part of the cease-fire, it’s hard to see how the cease-fire will hold.”
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghazi Hamed also criticized the attacks, telling BBC Arabic that the rocket fire was a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.
Hamed added that all Palestinian factions had taken part in the agreement on Saturday.
The Palestinian offer was accepted by Israel on Saturday night, and was set to halt operations in Gaza in return for an end to all Palestinian violence, including rocket fire, tunnelling and suicide bombers, the Prime Minister’s Office announced.
End Jerusalem Post Article
Begin DEBKAfile Article
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Hamas hardliner Khaled Meshaal’s deposits in Cairo a list of tough, non-negotiable ultimatums for a ceasefire and Palestinian unity
November 26, 2006, 12:46 PM (GMT+02:00)
Meshaal’s consent to finally travel to Cairo last week raised some hopes that he had come around to accepting a Palestinian unity government and discussing the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit. He soon dashed those hopes. Our sources learn he has left Cairo leaving behind a list of tough demands and headed for Yemen to lead a secret Hamas conference called to plot the next Palestinian-Israeli war.
These demands are disclosed here by our military sources:
1. To procure Shalit’s release, Israeli must free 1,400 jailed Palestinians in three stages, including all Hamas, Fatah and other terrorists, such as Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted to six life sentences for murdering six Israelis.
For the first batch of 400 women and minors, the Israeli soldier will be handed to Egypt. After the second batch of 500 (including the murderers) is released, Shalit’s parents and Israeli representatives will be allowed to see him.
2. Israel must halt all military operations in the Gaza and West Bank, including preventive detentions.
3. For his consent to a Palestinian unity government, the Hamas politburo chief wants a mechanism for opening the Palestinian Liberation Organization umbrella to Hamas membership and appointing him permanent chairman in place of Mahmoud Abbas.
Meshaal will thus acquire total control of the Palestinian movement and its resources worldwide.
4. Hamas will retain treasury, interior and foreign affairs in the unity government.
5. Within six months, Israel must withdraw to the June 4, 1967 borders and an independent Palestinian state established, else the Palestinians will wage a third intifada.
DEBKAfile’s military sources seriously question the wisdom of prime minister Ehud Olmert’s alacrity in accepting Mahmoud Abbas’ assurance of a missile ceasefire binding on all the terrorist groups. Olmert, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and defense minister Amir Peretz, who decided on acceptance, must have realized that the ceasefire on offer would not hold. First, because Meshaal instructed Hamas to hold out for its extension to the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip; and, second, because Hamas transferred a large quantity of Qassam missiles to the Iran-sponsored Jihad Islami and the Fatah al Aqsa Brigades and other terrorist branches. They were directed to keep the missiles coming and so make a sham of the purported ceasefire declared for 06:00 hours Sunday, Nov. 26. By precipitately pulling the Israeli units away from their successful counter-missile operations in N.
Gaza, the Olmert government made way for the missile crews to return to their firing sites and keep up the barrage against Israeli civilian locations without pause. Thirteen were fired – most exploding in Sderot before 10:00 am Sunday. Their pretext? A number of suspected terrorists was detained in Hebron, West Bank, early Sunday. Olmert responded by urging “restraint” to give the Palestinians another chance.
End DEBKAfile Article
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