Report: Israel, Hamas Agree On Truce

Cautious Optimism Surrounds Deal Designed To End Months Of Fighting, Egyptian Media Reports

(AP)  Israel and the radical Islamic group Hamas have agreed on a truce to begin Thursday, Egypt's state-owned news agency said Tuesday.

A Hamas official in Gaza, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release the information, confirmed the truce.

Israeli officials declined to confirm a deal, but said Israel's negotiator in the truce talks was rushing to Cairo and that they were "cautiously optimistic."

Egypt's MENA agency cited an unnamed high-level Egyptian official as saying that both sides "have agreed on the first phase" of an Egyptian package to end the violence in the Gaza Strip.

The first phase is a "mutual and simultaneous calm" that will start at 6 a.m. Thursday, MENA said.

A deadly Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip Tuesday killed five militants in southern Gaza. The attack came shortly after Gaza's Hamas rulers said they were close to a cease-fire deal with Israel.

The agreement is designed to end months of daily Palestinian rocket and mortar assaults on Israeli border towns and bruising Israeli retaliation. Egypt has been laboring for months to broker an agreement between Israel and the Islamic militant Hamas, which do not have direct contact with each other.

Gaza militants have been bombarding southern Israel with rockets and mortars for seven years. The rate of fire increased after Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005 and stepped up further last year after Hamas wrested power from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel has responded with pinpoint air and ground attacks that have killed hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians. It has also imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, letting in only limited amounts of humanitarian aid, restricting fuel supplies and widening already rampant unemployment. Ending the economic sanctions by opening Gaza's crossings with Israel and Egypt has been a major Hamas demand in the cease-fire talks.

Although the Rafah crossing lies on the Gaza-Egypt border, Europeans monitoring the passage require Israeli security clearance to operate. That clearance has not been given since Hamas took over Gaza.

Much skepticism has surrounded the talks, and not only because past accords - most recently, a November 2006 deal - have broken down fairly quickly.

Israel is suspicious of Hamas' motives, especially since the militant group has declared it would take advantage of any lull to rearm. Israel also is reluctant to legitimize Hamas' rule in Gaza through a truce agreement. Hamas rejects the existence of a Jewish state and has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide bombings.

But with the Israeli government under heavy domestic pressure to halt the rocket fire, the choices were a truce or a broad invasion of Gaza. Last week, Israeli leaders decided to put off a large-scale military campaign to give truce efforts more time to succeed.

Previous large-scale offensives have failed to halt the militant attacks. An even wider operation designed to overthrow Gaza's Hamas regime would mean house-to-house fighting in one of the world's most crowded territories, virtually guaranteeing high casualties.

[trishab4]

CBS: Report: Israel, Hamas Agree On Truce
Cautious Optimism Surrounds Deal Designed To End Months Of Fighting.

-Is it for better concentrating on attacking Iran? Wonder why they started some peace talks with Syria? Talks Only. No implementation!

[donbl1]

It is time for another Palestinian/Israeli peace treaty; i.e., end of term for another U.S. President.

Carter, Clinton and Bush

[displeased]

Truce? Yeah, right...

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
Our Master Israel orders Americans not to Negotiate with Terrorists. I guess this Hamas-Israel agreement means our great Obama can Negotiate with Iran. Poor McBush, oops sorry, McCain.

[j-whitman]

ecoology,,,, Blame anyone who aggravates the problems including Israel

[j-whitman]

midland666,,, That was the EU-3 minus the other 46 nations in Europe

[kuei12]

Yes they are.

[j-whitman]

OK,,,, faith_in_w,,,, Are you nuts in a nice way ???

[midland666]

Hooray! Bush has brought peace to the middle east. ..
hahahahahahhahahahaha...........

you mean all the way from europe he brokered a deal?
Dumbyah strikes again, he is after all such a loving fellow..

[j-whitman]

faith_in_w,,,, Are you nuts ??? How many truces does this make ??? Israel told Rice to go pound sand over the settelments. ---- W is the biggest gloabal calamity this world has seen.

[texasjo]

I hope that Israel helps the Arab Nation find peace. All the tribes of the Muslims need to elect two or three ( all equal numbers)members to rule united and in a democratic manner, then maybe there will be peace in the Middle East. The members must be good men with big, kind hearts and elected by the people.

[faith_in_w]

Hooray! Bush has brought peace to the middle east. The only ones unhappy about this are liberals because they hate George W Bush.

[l00ker]

Israel will eventually find a way to break this deal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by jh6379 at 10:28 AM : Jun 17, 2008
+ report abuse


It always does, that''s how Hamas ended up taking complete control of Gaza to begin with. Hamas had kept to a cease fire with Israel, yet in return, Israel backed Abbas'' Fatah in a civil scirmish against Hamas, who eventually proved to be much more than Israel and Fatah bargained for. And just as it underestimated Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israel''s lackeys of Fatah got their @sses kicked in the same manner that Israel got its @ss kicked by Hizbullah. But the cancerous sore continues to lie and say that Hamas took over Gaza; no, Hamas won over Gaza.

[l00ker]

I love the idiots who want to blame Israel for everything. Were it not for Israel holding down the fort, the blood thirsty, head cutting arabs would over run the middle East, and choke off all oil. Our economy would collapse in days after Israel ceases to exist. Remember, if Israel were disarmed, it would disappear; if all arabs were disarmed, there would be peace.
Go ahead, blame Israel, its your life!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by ecoology at 11:51 AM : Jun 17, 2008
+ report abuse


They seemed to be doing just fine, before that cancerous sore Israel was thrown into their midst, and don''t call us, because we definately won''t call you. For what? oil? bananas? All we''ve gotten in return from this malignant appendage is a swarm of killers after our @sses.

[reedtaz73]

PEACE?

30 days of cold war will eventually drive HAMAS and Israeli idiots mad. They can''t wait to resume their biblical warfare.

[ecoology]

I love the idiots who want to blame Israel for everything. Were it not for Israel holding down the fort, the blood thirsty, head cutting arabs would over run the middle East, and choke off all oil. Our economy would collapse in days after Israel ceases to exist. Remember, if Israel were disarmed, it would disappear; if all arabs were disarmed, there would be peace.
Go ahead, blame Israel, its your life!

[haoli25]

Who cares. Let ''em kill each other and do the world a favor.

[missingamerica]

What? Peace efforts in the Middle East?

Man, that is gonna make the "let us run and pretend that we never existed and maybe they will not RICO us" boyz in PNAC mad....

[beehive21-2009]

The World will be a better place, if they live and let live.Hamas ,was voted in by the people,and they fight at the drop of a hat,so more fights,more truces,more fighting,however,someday they may decide to rest.

[tawpdawg11]

Now, I wonder how they came to a truce? I KNOW!.......I bet they had some MEETINGS where they TALKED over their issues. This is how things should be getting done. This GOP business of shooting first and asking questions later will be our downfall, eventually. After enough of that krap everyone eventually hates and despises you and then...........yer chickens come home to roost.