JERUSALEM, Feb. 27, 2008
Poll: Most Israelis Want Truce With Hamas
Two-Thirds Support Talks With Arch-Enemy; Israeli Air Strike Kills 5 Hamas Militants
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Mayor Eli Moyal stands next to exploded remains of rockets fired by Palestinian militants from inside the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Sderot in this Jan. 21, 2008 file photo. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
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A Palestinian man stands next to a burning car that militants managed to flee after an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
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The poll, carried out by the Dialog company and published in the left-leaning Haaretz daily, showed that 64 percent of Israelis believe Israel should talk to Hamas now to bring a halt to the steady barrage of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and to win the release of a captured soldier, Cpl. Gilad Schalit.
Cpl. Schalit was seized in June 2006 by Hamas militants and has been held in Gaza since then as talks on a prisoner swap have stalled.
"The poll reflects the view among a growing number of Israelis that a truce is the only way to stop daily Palestinian rocket attacks," reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.
Only 28 percent of Israelis reject talks with Hamas, according to the poll, that included 500 respondents and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The findings run contrary to Israeli government policy and most of the rhetoric coming from both civilian and military officials. The official line from leaders has been, and remains, that no negotiations will be held with Hamas until the rocket attacks stop and the group recognizes Israel's existence, reports Berger.
Several Hamas officials have proposed a truce with Israel.
Israel's government has opposed a truce with Hamas due to fears the Islamic group which wrested control of the Gaza Strip could use it to rearm for another round of conflict.
However, some Israeli officials have recently expressed support for such talks. Those officials include former heavyweights in Israel's defense establishment and Eli Moyal, mayor of the town of Sderot, which is bombarded almost daily by Gaza militants.
(AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
In the short term, the possibility of any cease-fire agreement seems unlikely, given intensifying violence between Hamas militants and Israeli forces.
An Israeli aircraft blew up a minivan carrying Hamas gunmen in southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing five militants, including two key commanders involved in rocket attacks on Israel, the group said.
After the strike, burned bodies in camouflage uniforms were visible in the white minivan. Berger reports Palestinian officials said a senior rocket engineer and a rocket squad commander were among the dead.
The air strike came on the heels of a Palestinian rocket attack on Israel that left a 10-year-old Israeli boy wounded Monday in Sderot. His arm was partially severed and reattached in surgery.
Berger says the number of Israelis supporting negotiations is far more than in previous polls. "The idea of talking to Hamas was once unthinkable because the group was behind dozens of bloody suicide bombings a few years ago and its charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
"But, recently radio talk shows have featured some former defense officials who say the only way to stop the rocket fire is to talk to Hamas about a truce," said Berger, who confirmed the significance within Israel of the Sderot mayor's comments.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that a peace deal with the Palestinians wouldn't necessarily be concluded by the end-year target that he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas set.
"The desire is to make an agreement within the year 2008," he told business leaders in Tokyo. "I'm not sure we will be able to achieve it, and certainly not to implement it in the year 2008."
Quote
President Bush oversaw a Mideast peace summit in November where he announced that Israel and the Palestinians would aim to achieve a comprehensive peace deal by the end of this year. Mr. Bush has expressed hope and confidence repeatedly since the summit in Maryland that the goal could be achieved.The desire is to make an agreement within the year 2008... I'm not sure we will be able to achieve it.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud OlmertTwo other Hamas members were wounded in the Gaza air strike Wednesday, according to Hamas and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry.
Minutes after the first explosion, an Israeli missile struck another car nearby. Witnesses said the militants had abandoned that vehicle for the white minivan shortly before the strike. There were no casualties in the second attack.
"This is a new Israeli crime. It shows the bloody-mindedness of the occupation," said Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu.
The Israeli military confirmed the strikes, which it said targeted vehicles transporting militants.
The body of another Palestinian militant killed in central Gaza overnight was brought to the hospital in Gaza on Wednesday morning. The Islamic Jihad group said the man was one of its gunmen who had been killed in a clash with the Israeli military. The army said a militant approached the Gaza-Israel border fence late Wednesday and that soldiers had seen an explosion, likely caused by explosives the militant was carrying.
Israel's military operations in Gaza have not succeeded in stopping or even slowing the rocket fire.
Israel has been working to isolate Hamas since the Islamic group came to power in Gaza in June 2007. Hamas has been labeled a terror organization by Israel, the U.S. and EU.
In addition to its military strikes, Israel has imposed tough economic sanctions on Gaza, blocking most exports and allowing little more than basic humanitarian goods into the area.
The sanctions have caused widespread shortages of basic goods in Gaza. On Wednesday, the area's main water provider urged residents to boil all drinking water, citing a dire shortage of chlorine as a result of the blockade.
The Coastal Municipality Water Utility made the announcement in radio and newspaper advertisements. It said there was a "major concern over a health disaster due to possible contamination of the drinking water" and appealed to the international community for help.
Israeli officials were looking into the report and had no immediate comment.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 84 CommentsPosted by Quetzal0666
since you are probably not a native american--you better start packing too--all the land in the New World is going back to their original owners...
No!!!!
Not peace, war!!
Father why hast thou forsaken my Jihad?
i welcome that remark 100%,
ill help u pack...
Sounds similar to the 28% in America (Republican Bush supporters mostly) who want continual war in Iraq no matter what. Guess we can conclude that at least 28% of any population is bent on war and bloodlust and wants it for years no matter the cost or feasibility--because they are sociopaths who are just wired the wrong way....LOL
Posted by FloydZepp
Israel exists and will continue to exist not to make sure that singrick or terorism8 are happy--the country exists because it has a population, a history and a resolve. Israelis make no excuses for their willingness to fight to live--the jews of europe went off like sheep to the slaughter house--the Israelis have learned that lesson. The arab nations have used the ''palestineans'' as pawns. The world is comfortable with dead jews--the israelis are not
i welcome that remark 100%,
ill help u pack...
Posted by Quetzal0666
Being that I am jewish--i have a right to move to Israel--where are you going ???
who gave you the right to occupy onother mans land?
murder their women and children by rocket attacks in the night?
who gave you the right to occupy onother mans land?
murder their women and children by rocket attacks in the night?
Posted by Quetzal0666
No keep your facts straight--it is Hamas with the rocket attacks
lfitts1
And now the oppressed have become the oppressors. Ethnic cleansing is wrong no matter who''s doing it.
And U.S. Made weaponry arent rockets?
Ishreal, Should Be Dismantled,
its nothing but a country of Squatters and Illegal Immigrants from Europe.........
Israel''s likudist conservative leaders thrive on this war. While that''s bad enough, they and AIPAC drag 300 million Americans into paying for it because they bribe, threaten and control US politicians.
As long as the Koran and Islam exist, there will never be peace on this planet.
We should just let Islam destroy it%u2019s self from within. The more Islam expresses itself as the religion of submission, the deeper it buries itself in the pass with no sights for the future.
The Muslim will ask %u201CWhat has Allah and Muhammad done for them today%u201D?
To fight the world for an ideology that brings no peace to the world?
Who will the Muslim trust? And who will trust a Muslim?
Then there will be an %u201CAwakening%u201D for the Muslim people, if they are brave enough to face a new day without the covers of Islam and the Koran.
Posted by krotec54
Correction - As long as RELIGION exists, there will never be peace on this planet. Why do you supposed christians support the Israeli offensive? Because the bible says it''s supposed to happen, regardless of the bloodshed and suffering that results from it.
And U.S. Made weaponry arent rockets?
Ishreal, Should Be Dismantled,
its nothing but a country of Squatters and Illegal Immigrants from Europe.........
Posted by Quetzal0666
Says you--by the way..where and when are you moving??
Posted by terrorislam0
If a person decides to live in another country they need to live by that country''s rules. If a country is administered by religious rule, then stay away unless you desire to live under those conditions.
Posted by terrorislam0
Are you suggesting the Palestinians started this war?
I Live in Aztlan im not going nowhere jew boy!!!
Posted by Quetzal0666
Anti semetic are we??
Posted by terrorislam0
Are you suggesting the Palestinians started this war?
Posted by Displeased
That would be --yes--start with 1948 on...it all boils down to this--if the arabs stopped fighting there would be peace, if the Israelis stopped fighting there would be a slaughter.
Posted by Quetzal0666
You really are quite anti-semetic aren''t you--more fool you--did you pick up that little ditty at the most recent Adolph rally ???
Posted by lfitts1
Why did they start fighting in 1948? I thought they all lived in peace up to that point. And why are the Israelis so aggressive with settling in that particular land? I''m guessing it has to do with religion.
no i simply made it up by watching all the war crimes jews are committing in the name of their religion and duping the whole world into some kind of sympathy for saomething a little guy with a brown mustache supposedly did years ago..
Hi hunny, how are you?
Posted by Displeased
Do you want to remember who declared war on whom in 1948??
no i simply made it up by watching all the war crimes jews are committing in the name of their religion and duping the whole world into some kind of sympathy for saomething a little guy with a brown mustache supposedly did years ago..
Posted by Quetzal0666
You are so right--killing those 6 million--that is just a made up story--right--those camps were really just like the YMCA--oh those pesky photos that are still around and the survivors--you are not only an anti semite, you are a holocaust denier--well at least it is good to know where you are coming from
That sounds great J, I"m glad! :) And your father, he''s doing okay? How is your niece feeling?
Posted by lfitts1
It was the Israelis removing Palestinians from their homes.
You''re WAY out of line, loco. I will be the first to say that the Israeli government hasn''t been totally fair to the Palestinians. That does not mean that ALL Jews share that blame.
I think you''re identifying with the Palestinian plight a little too personally. Palestine is not Aztlan. It is far more complicated.
That''s great J! :)
my point is why should Palestine pay for what a europpean Lunatic did???
Marhaba habibi! How are you?
Posted by terrorislama
How do you know this? Have you been to any?
LOL, I''m sure I''ve said this ten times, but Lebanon is a Muslim majority country isn''t it? And it grants the same rights to non-Muslims....
"Hamas Sweeps Palestinian Elections, Complicating Peace Efforts in Mideast
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 27, 2006; A01
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 26 -- The radical Islamic movement Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian parliament, according to official election results announced Thursday, trouncing the governing Fatah party in a contest that could dramatically reshape the Palestinians'' relations with Israel and the rest of the world.
In Wednesday''s voting, Hamas claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, giving the party at war with Israel the right to form the next cabinet under the Palestinian Authority''s president, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah."
It''s not nice for CBS and AP to regularly lie to their readers while winking at their owners and powerful sponsors who know the real truth.
Posted by terrorislama
I don''t know this, therefore I don''t make those claims.
just like Christians do when they move in under the pretences of humanitarian aid????
who are you kidding????
Posted by terrorislama
Maybe she''s been there. If that''s the case, I would find her information more credible than assumptions gained from biased internet sites.
LatinAmerica......
Exactly, thank you Displeased. I have been there, and often. And before you can call me a hajji (which is the most respected term you can call someone, I just like your tone when you do) be aware that I have also travelled to Isreal numerous times as well. So I know form being there, talking to the people.
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