Guns Quiet As Fragile Gaza Truce Begins
Long-Sought Cease-Fire Meant To Stop Hamas' Rocket Attacks, Israel's Blockade Of Gaza
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Palestinian youths sit in a building destroyed in recent years in the conflict with Israel in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, June 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
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Islamic Jihad supporters carry the body of Motaz Tafesh, 23, killed in an Israeli air strike east of Gaza on Monday, during his funeral in Gaza City, Tuesday, June, 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
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Fatal Blast In Gaza Strip
"CBS News RAW": A powerful blast flattened the two-story house of a militant commander and killed at least four people in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Hamas rulers and a Palestinian health official.
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Gaza Gunfight Kills Seven
Four militants and three Israeli soldiers were killed in a gunfight in Gaza. The clash comes as former president Jimmy Carter participates in peace talks in the region. Charlie D'Agata reports.
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Mideast Conflict
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The cease-fire, which Egypt labored for months to conclude, also obliges Israel to ease a punishing blockade that has driven ordinary Gazans even deeper into destitution and confined them to their tiny seaside territory.
A day of intense Palestinian rocket and mortar fire and Israeli air reprisals on Wednesday underscored just how fragile the agreement would be. Shortly before the truce took hold, a Hamas militant was killed in an Israeli air strike in central Gaza that the military said targeted a rocket squad.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has ruled Gaza for the past year, reported that the Israeli navy fired four shells into the waters off Gaza City minutes after the truce began. But the shells fell about 500 yards from shore and there were no apparent targets in the area, witnesses reported, suggesting the shells might have been fired as part of a military drill. The military had no immediate comment.
More than two hours into the truce, there were no other reports of fire. In Gaza and in Israel, the cease-fire dominated radio talk shows Thursday morning.
But, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger, both sides doubt the truce can hold. "Hamas refuses to recognize the Jewish state and is committed to armed resistance, so Israel fears the group will dig in for the next round of violence," says Berger.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev put a fine point on the mistrust. "If we see Hamas using this period of quiet just to rearm and regroup, all bets are off. There will not be an understanding."
Berger reports the cautionary rhetoric was no more optimistic from the Palestinian side. "We are going to do everything we can to support it, in spite of all the doubt we have that Israel will commit itself to the cease-fire," said Jamal Nazzal, a spokesman for the Fatah government in the West Bank.
Although each side has expressed skepticism over the other's commitment to the accord, the hope is that it will avert an Israeli military invasion of the coastal strip meant to quell rocket and mortar squads.
As the truce began Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepared to address the U.N. Security Council in New York to bolster last-ditch efforts by the Bush administration to achieve a broader peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, reports CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk.
"Expectations are low with regard to the completion of the Middle East roadmap" before the end of Mr. Bush's tenure, said Falk. "But there is some hope that the Egypt-brokered cease-fire and the Turkey-brokered talks between Israel and Syria can help avert a major conflict in the region this summer."
Tal Mahatzili of the southern Israeli farming community of Nir Oz said she was afraid the tranquility Thursday morning was "the quiet before the storm."
"If I could believe our neighbors had stopped their hostile activities, washed their hands at 6:05 and went to the local library to draft a peace proposal, then I would say, "Wow,' and heave a sigh of relief," she told Israel Radio. "To my great regret, I'm afraid the malevolent activities across the border won't stop."
Eman Mahmoud, a 22-year-old Gaza university student, dreamt of a return to normalcy.
"I want to be able to sleep without the sound of shelling or warplanes. This is the most important thing to me," she said. "We have been living a nightmare. ... I am not sure how long it is going to last, but my dream is that this calm will continue."
In an email to reporters, Hamas' military wing declared itself "completely and comprehensively" committed to the truce. But it warned that the cease-fire was not a "free gift to the occupiers" and that Hamas gunmen were ready to "launch a military strike that will shake the Zionist entity state" if Israel did not abide by all its cease-fire commitments.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would "fully implement all its commitments" under the agreement, but added, "Our eyes are open, we are closely following what the other side is doing."
I want to be able to sleep without the sound of shelling or warplanes... I am not sure how long it is going to last, but my dream is that this calm will continue.
Eman Mahmoud, Gaza university studentIf the quiet holds, Israel will ease its blockade of Gaza on Sunday to allow the shipment of some supplies to resume. A week later Israel is to further ease restrictions at cargo crossings, which in recent months have been closed to all but humanitarian aid and restricted fuel supplies.
In a final stage, negotiators are to tackle Hamas' demand to reopen a major border passage between Gaza and Egypt and Israel's insistence that Hamas release an Israeli soldier it has held for two years.
"We in Hamas are committed to this calm and are interested in making it succeed," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said shortly before the truce went into effect. "The ball is now in Israel's court."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert voiced hope Wednesday that the truce would succeed.
"I believe there will be quiet in (Israel's) south," he said in a speech Wednesday to philanthropists. But, quickly downplaying expectations, he instructed his military "to prepare for any operation, short or long, that might be necessary" should the truce break down.
A cease-fire in November 2006 lasted only weeks before unraveling.
Egypt acted as middleman for the current deal because Israel, like much of the international community, shuns Hamas for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
The immediate halt of hostilities is likely to prove to be the easy part of the deal. Israel's point man on the truce talks, Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, said late Wednesday that Gaza's main gateway to the outside world, the Rafah crossing with Egypt, would not reopen unless Israeli Cpl. Gilad Schalit were released. But Hamas' military wing said Thursday that Schalit "would not see the light" unless hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were freed.
Israel has balked at releasing some of the militants Hamas wants released because they were involved in fatal attacks on Israelis.
Rafah was snapped shut after Hamas violently wrested control of Gaza a year ago from security forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who now rules only in the West Bank. Although Rafah lies on the Gaza-Egypt border, Israel has had the power to idle it because Europeans monitoring the passage require Israeli security clearance to operate. That clearance has not been given since the Hamas takeover.
The Hamas Interior Ministry sent an email to reporters Thursday saying 260 Palestinians who had been stranded in Egypt after seeking medical treatment there had crossed back into Gaza through Rafah overnight. It said 5,517 Gazans, including students and Palestinians with residency abroad, have applied to leave if Rafah is opened. "We expect very good news in the next few days," the ministry said - hinting at a temporary opening to allow those people to leave.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



IMHO it''s more about the Jews taking Palestinian land and isolating the Palestinians from their families. Not much different than what the Europeans did to the North American Natives over the last 500 years. The difference is that the Palestinians have a lot more people on their side than did the Native Americans.
There will never be true peace in the middle east until the Jews move back to the borders they agree on years ago.
Carter was absolutely correct in his book "Peace not Apartheid."
P.S. Carter is the most incompetent leader of all time, a thoroughly evil man, and has been destructive to all parties in this matter. A complete and utter waste of oxygen.
Is it not the truth that Hamas has called Fatah a puppet of Satin,Israel and the US? By making truce with its sworn enemy has it not also fallen to the same status?
Posted by jackie0428
your "insights" regarding the proposal of genocide against millions of innocent civilians comes right out of Mein Kampf -
seems nazism is alive and well here - you should be very produc of yourself - does your mother know you write such trash?
Where in Mein Kampf is there a "proposal of genocide against millions of innocent civilians?"
You haven''t read Mein Kampf, have you?
Another ignorant posting from someone who thought there was a Palestinian state from 1948 to 1967 until I corrected him.
Of course, you''re absolutely right. This situation will never be resolved until one side breaks the other''s will to fight via a total, devastating victory.
The Brits found this out in the late 1930s, when the Palestinian leader, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, launched a widespread insurrection aimed at booting all Jews and Brits out of the Middle East.
The Brits started with a piecemeal, reactive approach, just as the Israelis are doing now, but soon realised it was fruitless.
They weren''t successful until they adopted a no-holds-barred, ruthless strategy with no mercy whatsoever. It worked.
The defeated Grand Mufti fled to Berlin where he remained as Hitler''s guest for the duration of WWII. While there, as Rommel''s Afrika Korps advanced eastwards across North Africa towards the Middle East, he helped Adolf Eichmann design, and choose the sites for, Auschwitz-style extermination camps throughout the entire area.
Fortunately, Bernard Montgomery, the architect of the Brits'' victory over the Palestinians, forced Ropmmel into a tire-screeching halt at El Alamein in Egypt.
PALESTINIANS were NAZIS without swastikas then.
PALESTINIANS are NAZIS without swastikas now.
Does Rev Wright still support Hamas?
Does Obama still subscribe to Rev Wrights Thinking?
Did Obama and Wright stop there involvement with the International Solidarity Movement?
Is Hamas a terrorist Organization or Should Obama appease them?
If Barack Obama didn%u2019t know about Abunimah%u2019s writings (and Abunimah says he did), the same as his claims of being unaware of Reverend Wright%u2019s remarks after 20 years, then Obama is not competent to be our President. Abunimah likes to lie and claim Al Awda has nothing to do with the ISM or Electronic Intifada, though plenty of evidence exists on the website the homepage at www.StoptheISM.com showing the contrary.
But Obama%u2019s association with the ISM through his church and lobbying in Chicago goes even deeper than just his past links to Al Awda and Ali Abunimah. His pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, are both equally involved with the ISM.
now israel turns around and signs a 6 month truce with them. Why?
it would be fair to say it was not in the interest of saving innocent palestinian lives, but rather because of a very important looming election.
israeli neocon-dom doesn''t know obama and probably, with reason, doesn''t want to draw too much attention to their apartheid system in the occupied terrirtories - therefore the "truce".
for israel''s cynical land-grabbers, they prefer to wait and watch - for the moment.
"II.1
Ethnic state and racial hygiene in "Mein Kampf"
In "Mein Kampf", written in the fortress Landsberg in 1923, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) already expressed the fundamentals of the Nazi policy of racism, which was put into action after 1933. It contained both the eugenic goal according to which only human beings with "hereditary valuable traits" should propagate, and, with reference to the concepts of racial hygiene, the rejection of racial crossbreeding. Consequently, for the Nazi regime this meant the exclusion, or even the extermination of human beings of "non-Aryan" or "related" blood.
Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Univ. Minn."
well, jewboy, not only have I read it, but in the original to boot (I speak 4 languages).
your second mistake regards Palestine - I said it a territory under UK administration, not a state.
for a start, study before you speak....
Posted by juwboy
how utterly depressing to hear, if you are, as you say, a juwboy, that you could confuse that political movemnet with a nationality - one I might add that had nothing to do with genocide.
it just goes to show, not all of us had the same opportunities - sorry for you, old sport!
PALESTINIANS are NAZIS without swastikas now.
Posted by juwboy at 05:19 AM : Jun 19, 2008----- Well, maybe not as openly displayed on an armband,.....rather they wear the swastika openly in their hearts. Their deeds prove it.
other countries into doing has . . .
. .amazing results.
Cant wait.
Could this time''s blowback entertainment
reach that of Hamas'' total destruction
of Bush''s vision of a Hamas defeat in
Palestine?
"Where IS that *** legacy!??
Time''s running out. Try one more time
here at being the Palestinian State Hero
then I dont know what the hell I''m gonna.."
hamas destroying Bush''s
Anyone who can read a map must realize that Gaza should be under Egyptian control But the Islamic dictatorships would rather use the Gaza residents as a club against Israel, based on the religious bigotry taught by Islam
And Hamas is getting rich by controlling the black market. Anything for a dinar!
So, Israel-bashers--take your whines to Syria and Egypt!
The Jews have traded places with the Nazis.
Shame om them.
Posted by cfin5
how simplistic -
imagine you and yours were thrown out your homes - forbidden to return to your land - exiled.
in what state would your heart be?
if you had one.
Posted by cfin5
seems you back down dude - from the intellectual fight - preconceived notions without knowing the facts will get you a bloody nose every time. How about I come over and throw you out of your house?
Didn''t think you''d like that - alot people feel the way when that''s done to them.
It''s very easy for Americans, living 1000''s of miles away, to characterize this conflict. And very naive. Allow me to demonstrate.
A group of people crosses a border. They set up a farming community and begin governing themselves independently. The country into which they entered feels its sovereignty is being threatened and sends the army to eject the squatters. The squatters fight to the last man -- every one of them is killed. A war ensues. Eventually, the squatters win... with outside interference from the US... and declare independence.
What am I describing? The founding of Israel? the founding of Palestine?
Nope.
1836. Mexico. Texas. The Alamo.
Makes you think, doesn''t it?
Posted by MITDGreenb
.. .. ..
Huh? What?
The Jews have traded places with the Nazis.
Shame om them.
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Posted by salty1954 at 08:48 AM : Jun 19, 2008
+ report abuse
To the nth degree, and the ghettoization of West Bank and Gaza do Hitler proud.
Shame om them.
Posted by salty1954
.. ....
ommmmmm, ommmmmm. Ahhh, feel all relaxed now.
if you had one.
Posted by neoconRcrazy
... ....
If it happened in 1948 I''d be fine. Wasn''t born yet.
Malik Obama confirms his half-brother Barack grew up a Muslim
Apparently the Obamas of Kenya have no doubt -- contrary to the claims of the Obama campaign, that the presidential candidate was raised a Moslem. They take that as a given.
"Barack Obama''''s half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya."
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12918.htm
http://www.anobamanation.net/2008/06/obamas-brother-confirms-barack-grew-up.html
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Posted by bhoogren at 12:13 PM : Jun 19, 2008
+ report abuse
seig...heil...seig...heil...seig...heil...aaahhh, what a rush...
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Posted by Edward1975 at 12:16 PM : Jun 19, 2008
+ report abuse
Indeed, they''ve been given every opportunity to live like slaves in a jew created cess pool, and have shown their lack of appreciation, by trying to rid themselves of their jew oppressor and live like people in the rest of the world. They don''t want the jew''s peace indeed.
---- Just more GOP Electioneering in the War on Terror --
HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,
Obama Sides With Radical Islamists
The magnitude of difference between the two candidates running in our presidential election could not be more stark! After reading the statements of both Obama and McCain regarding the horrible Supreme Court 5-4 decision to allow Gitmo detainees the right to be tried in civilian courts, we can clearly see what a flawed, unfortunate, and terrible direction Obama would take this country if [God forbid!!]elected in November.
Obama''s statement:
Barack Obama statement on the Supreme Court''s 5-4 decision today extending civilian legal protections to terrorist suspects held in Guantanamo Bay:
Um...er...earth to Obama? Foreign terrorists caught in battle against our forces during war have never been eligible for "habeas corpus"! They are not covered by the Constitution of the United States of America. So...what "rule of law" are you referring to?
http://talkwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-sides-with-radical-islamists.html
-- The decision upholds America''s Constitution, For once in the War on Terror they will be tried in our courts for a crime committed against our nation.
HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,
Obama''s Cousin Charged With Ethnic Cleansing
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-obamas-cousin-charged-with-ethnic.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7192958.stm
Obama''s relative linked to Ethnic Cleansing in Kenya
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/02/obamas-relative-linked-to-ethnic.html
Signs in Kenya That Killings Were Planned
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957451/posts
Ten Obvious Reasons Why Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Top-10-Reasons.htm
Kenya Muslim Violence Pictorial *Warning Graphic*
Africa, Kenya, Muslims%u2026nothing more needs to be said%u2026
http://patdollard.com/2008/01/kenya-muslim-violence-pictorial-warning-graphic/
The Kenyan jihad
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/433766/the-kenyan-jihad.thtml
nothing new,,, more radical muslims ethnically cleansing non-muslims
19 Burned to Death in Violence in Kenya
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960644/posts
HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,
will hussein stop his radical muslim luo tribe relatives from slaughtering non-muslims???
apparently not,,,
U.S. Troops to African "hotspot"?
Obama Jr. Says ''''Not Yet''''
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan08/obama_
lou%20tribe.htm
Just one day before the Jan. 3, 2008 Iowa caucus, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (D-Ill.), who is aiming to be America''''''''s first African-American president, found himself taping a message from Iowa to Kenya for broadcast on the Voice of America.
Kenya, the homeland Obama Jr''''s family''''s Luo tribe, burst into post-election violence after Raila Odinga, a fiery Luo tribe opposition leader and Kenya presidential candidate, alleged the Dec. 27 voting that re-elected President Mwai Kibaki of the Kikuyu tribe was rigged
More than 360 people were killed and over 250,000 displaced provoking a humanitarian crisis in a country previously considered a stable pillar in east Africa.
They seem an odd couple: the general who engineered President Bush''s surge in Iraq, and the presidential candidate who has promised to undo it. But look again. Gen. David Petraeus''s broad new agenda as the likely next commander of Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. forces in the entire Middle East and Central Asia, seems to echo some of Barack Obama''s views about the critical front in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142136
-- More designed to mask the problems untill after our own election, the same political agenda of our GOP in Iraq & Afhganistan.
Good luck to those folks in the middle east.
Sit back and watch...and remember my words. Hamas has no respect for democracy and no desire to engage with it.
Apparently the Obamas of Kenya have no doubt -- contrary to the claims of the Obama campaign, that the presidential candidate was raised a Moslem. Posted by terrorislami at 12:34 PM : Jun 19, 20
Actually that story has been disputed by both ABC and CNN, and others. Malik Obama never said that.
If you were as adept at finding the truth on the internet as you are at finding rumors and lies, your posts might be worth taking seriously. But...you''re happy posting ********* that few take seriously.
Posted by jackie0428 at 02:25 AM : Jun 19, 2008
Really!!! Glad to see that you have an "open mind" about the situation.
Speaking of evil and incompetence...the most evil and incompetent leader in my lifetime is still in the White House. Bush should be prosecuted for war crimes and the murder of over 4000 young American men and women.
Posted by earth56 at 07:35 PM : Jun 19, 2008
It''s easy to make that statement. Why don''t you point out some of the errors?
Page and paragraph?
Just one or two?
Posted by galloglaigh at 01:59 AM : Jun 19, 2008
ummmmmmmm all muslim majority countries are APARTHEID,,, non-muslims do not have equal rights,,,
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by midland666
June 20, 2008 6:05 PM EDT
- terrorislami ..
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Reply to this comment
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See all 50 Commentsthats bercause if you dont have separation of church and state, or state and synagogue, or state and whatever religious ideology, youll never have equality....
thats because conservatives of any religion will use the teachings and misinterpret them to fit their agenda,
being liberal forces you to think in human terms,
not in fairy tales.