Uneasy Gaza Truce Holding, For Now

Israel Does Not Retaliate After 11 Rockets Fired From Gaza, Saying It Wants To Give Cese-Fire A Chance

(AP)  Rocket fire from Gaza died down Sunday after a daybreak cease-fire, raising hopes for an end to five months of bloody destruction and a new opening toward peace talks.

The surprise truce was supposed to take effect at 6 a.m., but in the four hours that followed, 11 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli towns and villages and some Palestinian militants threatened to keep up the attacks.

Israel did not retaliate, saying it wanted to give the truce a chance.

"Even though there are still violations of the cease-fire by the Palestinian side, I have instructed our defense officials not to respond, to show restraint, and to give this cease-fire a chance to take full effect," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during a ceremony at a high school in southern Israel.

Rivals Hamas and Fatah, the two main factions in the Palestinian government, also publicly backed the truce and by nightfall, it appeared to take hold. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the ruling Hamas movement said he had contacted the leaders of all Palestinian factions Sunday and they reassured him they were committed to the cease-fire.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who has been pressing for a reopening of peace talks with Israel, ordered his security forces to patrol the Gaza border on Sunday to stop rocket attacks. Security officers fanned out across northern Gaza, taking up positions at major intersections with orders to stop anyone suspicious and the salvos stopped by the afternoon.

"The instructions are clear. Anyone violating the national agreement will be considered to be breaking the law," said Lt. Gen. Abdel Razek Mejaidie, Abbas' security adviser.

Battle-hardened Israelis and Palestinians were wary, having seen similar truces and peace efforts disintegrate and slip back into violence.

In the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, the source of most of the rocket fire and target of punishing Israeli reprisals, Rafik Gaish was bitter because the Israelis tore up his fields.

"My potatoes were apparently launching rockets," the farmer scoffed. "We are for this agreement, we want peace — but what will stop the Jews?"

Many residents of Beit Hanoun returning to their damaged homes after the Israeli withdrawal lashed out in anger.

"The Israelis need no pretext to cause destruction, for killing and bloodshed," said Ayoub Kafarna, 65. "Nothing can compensate us for our losses."

Just 1½ miles away and across the border fence, many of the 22,000 residents of the working-class Israeli town of Sderot, targeted by hundreds of rockets from Gaza, were pessimistic.

"I was optimistic, but that optimism lasted only a few minutes until another rocket landed," 20-year-old Neta Ammar said Sunday after two homes near hers were struck.

"It's a joke," said Dudu Cohen, a 37-year-old convenience store owner in Sderot. "There is no one to talk to on the other side, there is no one to have a cease-fire with."

If the truce holds, it would be a coup for Abbas who has been trying for months to end the violence in Gaza that has killed 300 Palestinians, scores of them civilians, and five Israelis.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni stressed the need to follow the truce with diplomatic steps.

"History teaches us that if this kind of cease-fire with the Palestinians isn't accompanied by something else, it will deteriorate," she said.

The cease-fire was worked out late Saturday night when Abbas called Olmert with an agreement from Palestinian militant groups to halt rocket fire and other violence from Gaza.

Olmert pledged in turn to end the military offensive Israel launched in June after Hamas-linked militants from Gaza captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. The soldier has not been seen since, but Hamas' leader said Saturday he is still alive.

Word of the cease-fire came shortly after Hamas' Damascus-based supreme leader Khaled Mashaal held several days of talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators. Palestinian officials said those talks played a role in speeding up the agreement.

In a television interview aired Sunday, Mashaal said Hamas would be willing to give negotiations eight months or a year before launching a new uprising against Israel, backing away from a six-month deadline he set the day before.

Mashaal, who spoke by telephone during a taped show on Egypt's Channel One, was responding to a question from the Palestinian information minister and member of Fatah, who said it was not logical for Palestinians to be talking about an uprising.

"I said six months, but do you want more than six months? Maybe we can take eight months or a year," Mashaal said. But he warned, "If the door is sealed and the horizon is closed (for creating a Palestinian state) then we have to look for another choice."

Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza ahead of the 6 a.m. Sunday deadline. Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles were parked just over the border in a staging ground in southern Israel early Sunday.

But Palestinian militants, including those linked to Hamas, kept up rocket fire into Israel throughout the morning.

"(We) reiterate that our attacks against the enemy continue," Hamas militants said in a statement on their Web site claiming responsibility for several of the rocket attacks.

Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israel. However, after nightfall Sunday, an official from the militant faction, Khaled al-Batch, said the group was on board. "We will respect this (national) agreement so long as Israel is committed," he said.

Israel has no ties with the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist. But it considers Abbas, a moderate who was elected separately last year, an acceptable negotiating partner.

A cease-fire in Gaza is part of a broad package Abbas is trying to put together in the hope of restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in funding Western donors cut off to pressure Hamas to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

[firststate]

sandycat2
Are your words an example of Christian tolerance? You seem to have plenty of hatred of your own. Your invective illustrates the point I was trying to make to hamiltongrad when you accused me of slandering Christianity. Sure, the Inquisition and Crusades happened a long time ago, but they happened within Christianity. Truthful representation of facts cannot, by definition, be slander. I was pointing out the hypocrisy of many, but not all, Christians. Did I touch a nerve?

Some Christians point to Islam's history as part of their criticism, but these same people bristle and retort that was a long time ago when someone points to Christianity's history. In that same Christian history, it is also fact that the woman was certainly subservient to the man and still is in some Christian sects, regardless of whom such facts offend.

[halozcel]

sandycat2,you are right...and raped their women and made slave of them.These are exactly what catholic pirates did in south america.Who destroy Aztecs,Mayas,Incas.Cradle of Civilization was four or five thousand years ago.Religous fanaticism is the end of civilization.Everybody must to come to twentyfirst century and the only guide should be Democracy and Human Rights.

[sandycat2]

Bush's grandpa and Joe Kennedy were one person. Islam is suposed to be a religion. Islam pushes hatered for Jews and is anti-semetic. that's my point.

[bushrocks1]

Would I send my son to this war? You might ask would I send him to WW II? Or Vietnam? Maybe you would distinguish those conflicts and whether you would send your son to fight in them. But that question is misdirected in a very important way: I can't command my son to go to war. He has to make that choice. So the better question would be: would I volunteer to fight in Iraq, WW II, Vietnam? Would I volunteer to fight in any war? Respond if drafted? I don%u2019t know. I'm not equivocating, only addressing that it is a hypothetical. To a hypothetical, I can answer, sure I'd fight. But I have nightmares of battle (from my past life as a Jacobite). So how do I feel toward those who do volunteer? Impressed and maturely knowing that many things go into their decision. But I do strongly believe that a country that can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq. Objectively, I also believe it for other reasons. An attempt to establish democracy in the Middle East is a bold, brilliant, noble effort, facing a high chance of failure. That's why I greatly respect and admire those who have made the attempt--the Bush administration. They have been resolute, something I have not seen in my lifetime. They may not succeed, for reasons outside their control or fault: traitors on the home front, being a big one. But now those traitors have apparently occupied the high ground. Yet... we're still in Iraq. Why?... I'm waiting.

[feelfree1]

sandycat2,

Re: "Why Islam even supported Hitler and the Nazis, their hatred is great."

So did pResident Bush's grandpa. What is your point?

[sandycat2]

What happened to the Cradle of Civilization is Islam happened. Islam is not a peaceful religion nor is it tolerant of other religions. The level of hatred of Jews and Christians coming from this religion makes me think it comes from Satan rather than God. If there is no peace in the Middle East, it is because of Islam. No one else is to blame. Why Islam even supported Hitler and the Nazis, their hatred is great.

[firststate]

sandycat2
I didn%u2019t intend to slander Christianity, or anyone. I was trying to illustrate, point-by-point to hamiltongrad some of his or her inconsistencies. I was referring to those in historical context as a reminder of Christianity%u2019s imperfect past. I know they happenened a long time ago, but they happened. The historical context was especially important in terms of gender respect. One small thump to the back of my head reminded me that Christian women today are subservient to no one, not even husbands. LOL

While I agree that Muslim%u2019s behavior in their countries directly explains the scarcity of Christians and Jews living in them, they have no monopoly on treating a different religious groups members as second-class citizens. Some Christians even behave that way with different Christian denominations.

I am left to wonder what happened in the middle-east, the %u201CCradle of Civilization,%u201D that stunted their growth as societies and human beings? I%u2019m not being a smart ***, but something happened somewhere along the way..

I believe we don%u2019t have peace in the middle-east because too many hotheads don%u2019t want it. The Arab and Israeli extremists don%u2019t want peace. Even some far-right Christians don%u2019t want peace because they want the middle-east to go completely to Hell for Christ to return to earth.

[feelfree1]

firststate, at 09:28 PM

Great points.

[sandycat2]

Firststate, I resent you slander of Christianity. First, the crusades and inquisition happened a long time ago. And Christian women are not subserviant to anyone. Check history, Islam has slaughered more Christians and Jews and other "infidels" than can ever be attributated to any other religion. Muslims spread their religion by beheading those who do not convert to Islam or making the infidels into second class citizens to the muslim and making them pay taxes to the muslims. That is why there is so few Christians or Jews in Muslims countries. They have all left or been killed. Also, Muslim women are murdered during "honor killings" and beaten if they don't obey men. Many women are not educated. Women are not even allowed in the same room in the mosque. A muslim will be killed if he renounces Islam. I could go on with the facts I have found out about this so-called "peaceful" religion. What I found disgust me. Islam is not tolerent or peaceful. The so-called radical Islamists are not readical at all. They are just following the actions of their prophet, Muhammed, who spread Islam by war. He conquered others, then cut off the heads of the men, and raped their women and made slaves of them. Does any of this sound familiar to the things going on today in so-called radical Islam

[titocordero]

Firststate
Point taken. I think you've expressed yourself eloquently and respectfully. One thing though as far as Nostradamus and the prophecies of the bible. The Bible is not just about prophecies where as Nostradamus quatrains were all about present and furture events. For those who believe the Bible tells a story of how we and this world came about. What our purpose in life should be and what the Will of God(as those who understand him from their individual religions is) For alot of us (and mind you I'm not a really religious person) The bible is a blueprint for our life. I truly believe and this is just my opinion the truth lies in the holy Scriptures. I've read the Koran and see many similarities to our bible. We're both of a monesthic religion. We just cannot agree to disagree with regards to the worship of our God. One thing there's an element of hate when it comes to these Islamist groups and the Jewish people or as they wish to say the Zionist government. I don't think that that's very Godlike one thing to be militant against Israeli soldier but it's a whole other matter to constantly hear this rhetoric that all Israel, Woman, Children and Babies are guilty for the condition of Palestine so therefore our holy war against them is also justified by Allah....The compassionate the merciful......This makes no sense to me.

[firststate]

hamiltongrad, You say, "...all relig. are not the same. Tolerance, freedom,gender respect, intellectual investigation is not a strong suit of one. Can you guess which one I am thinking of ?"
Christianity is a real possibility, unpleasant as that probably is for you.
1. Tolerance - The Inquisition and the Crusades
2. Freedom - Slavery
3. Respect - Missionaries proselytizing, my way or Hell
4. Gender Respect - Male-only Priesthood and the wife subservient to the husband
5. Intellectual Investigation - Embryonic Stem Cells, Evolution, Physics, etc.
You say all religions are not the same - because yours is right.
Are you aware that just as Christians consider the Bible divinely inspired, the Muslims do the Qur%u2019an?
Christians have a duty to convert others to the %u2018True Faith%u2019 as Muslims do.
Christianity, like Islam has different sects (Catholics-Protestants and Sunni-Shiite.)
Some Christian sects even limit heaven to their particular sect.
People tend to acquire religion from their exposure as children in society and the family. Religion is based upon faith. Even though there is no proof, it can be integral to people%u2019s lives.
Christianity and Islam have more in common than either would choose to admit.

[firststate]

First I%u2019m not a Scientologist. I am aware of the fact that the piece of real estate there has been hotly contested. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all consider at least part of it Holy. That given, is the place more important than the message or the messenger? It just doesn%u2019t make sense to me, no matter how many people fight over it. If a reasoned response, not steeped in religion indicates ignorance, then I am guilty. I wonder if Soloman had a solution for 3 contenders.

Secondly, I have read much of the bible and its prophesies. The accuracy of the bible is a lot like that of Nostradamus. You can make almost anything fit when you work from the events of today back to fit the prophesy. The problem is trying to specify some future event from the prophecy in anything beyond the most general terms. Even if you accept the bible%u2019s stories as divinely inspired, who did the transcribing, editing and all the translations? It deserves respect as the basis of a religion, as does the Qur%u2019an of Islam.

[bushrocks1]

Would I send my son to this war? You might ask would I send him to WW II? Or Vietnam? Maybe you would distinguish those conflicts and whether you would send your son to fight in them. But that question is misdirected in a very important way: I can't command my son to go to war. He has to make that choice. So the better question would be: would I volunteer to fight in Iraq, WW II, Vietnam? Would I volunteer to fight in any war? Respond if drafted? I don%u2019t know. I'm not equivocating, only addressing that it is a hypothetical. To a hypothetical, I can answer, sure I'd fight. But I have nightmares of battle (from my past life as a Jacobite). So how do I feel toward those who do volunteer? Impressed and maturely knowing that many things go into their decision. But I do strongly believe that a country that can't find those men is doomed. The fact that we can find them is one reason why I say there is no failure in Iraq. Objectively, I also believe it for other reasons. An attempt to establish democracy in the Middle East is a bold, brilliant, noble effort, facing a high chance of failure. That's why I greatly respect and admire those who have made the attempt--the Bush administration. They have been resolute, something I have not seen in my lifetime. They may not succeed, for reasons outside their control or fault: traitors on the home front, being a big one. But now those traitors have apparently occupied the high ground. Yet... we're still in Iraq. Why?... I'm waiting.

[titocordero]

Firststate
What are you a Scientologist?? If you've read up on anything religous than you should have walked away with at least one certainty and that is that Israel is the most contested piece of land in the world. A piece of "holy" real estate (to most people of the world)and the wars and conflicts to possess and wipe out the people that currently dwell in that land threatens the security of all mankind. That cannot be said about area 51, The Mojave Desert or you backyard. Check it out there are 3 major religions in the world and they all have Israel as it's central setting....or at least Jerusalem. So now I tell you, you sound as ignorant as Grumpas. Have you read the bible, if you have than you know that all of what is happening today has been prophesised thousands of years ago in the Holy Scriptures. Now tell me what other book outside of the Bible can claim such accuracy. I'm not down playing anyone's religion or the God they choose to worship but the stuff of headlines today has been written thousands of years ago in the Bible.

[sandycat2]

I have no sympathy for the Palestinians. They are living the way they want to live. They the support the murderer terrorist grops incliding Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They don't want a Palestinian state. If they did want that, they could have had that by now. Arafat turned his back on the OSLO accord which would have given the Palestinians everything they said they wanted, but Arafat started the Intifada instead of taking the Palestinian state. The the truth is the Palestinians want to destroy Isreal and kill Jews. That is their goal. Hamas and Islamic Jihad repeat this goal over and over again. What about this goal, don't you people understand?

[feelfree1]

starlady2,

Thank you for posting that article. What an aweful example of the extremism of many Israeli settlers.

A recent analysis of these Israeli settlements has concluded that 40% of them are located on Palestinian owned land. These poeple are morally bankrupt.

[starlady2]

chanting in Hebrew %u201CWe killed Jesus, we%u2019ll kill you too!%u201D http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/11/18/hebron-day-06/

A 19-year old Swedish human rights worker had her cheekbone broken by a Jewish extremist in Hebron today. Earlier the same day at least five Palestinians, including a 3-year-old child, were injured by the settler-supporting extremists, who rampaged through Tel Rumeida hurling stones and bottles at local residents. Palestinian schoolchildren on their way home were also attacked. The Israeli army, which was intensively deployed in the area, did not intervene to stop the attacks.

Tove Johansson from Stockholm walked through the Tel Rumeida checkpoint with a small group of human rights workers (HRWs) to accompany Palestinian schoolchildren to their homes. They were confronted by about 100 Jewish extremists in small groups. They started chanting in Hebrew %u201CWe killed Jesus, we%u2019ll kill you too!%u201D %u2014 a refrain the settlers had been repeating to internationals in Tel Rumeida all day.

[feelfree1]

Is it possible that Hamilton Graduates leave shool even less informed than when they enter?

[feelfree1]

Fortunately, there are many brave Israeli Jews who are openly opposed to the State-terrorist activities of their government.

The "refusenicks" are an excellent example of this. They are working hard, in spite of vicous resistance, to salvage a bit of dignity and humanity for their fellow country men and women.

[feelfree1]

The Israelis have become their own worst oppressors. They must end their brutal and illegal occupation of Palestine, if they ever hope to re-join the human race.