3-Stage Israel-Hamas Truce to Begin Thursday, Expectations Low for Success of Ceasefire

 

Israel-Hamas truce to begin Thursday

Date: 18 / 06 / 2008  Time:  09:52
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

The Israeli occupation government has officially confirmed that Israel and Hamas have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The agreement is scheduled to take effect at 6am on Thursday.

"If the fighting indeed ceases Thursday as planned, Israel will ease its blockade of Gaza next week," the Israeli occupation government spokesman Mark Regev said.

Amos Gilad, the head of the Israeli occupation government defense ministry's political-military bureau, was in Cairo on Tuesday to put the finishing touches on the pact. The agreement calls for a halt to all military operations by Israeli occupation forces and Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza. Israeli Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, said on Tuesday that Israel would continue military action in the occupied West Bank.

Khalil Al-Hayyah, one of the Hamas officials who negotiated the truce in Cairo, said that the truce is intended to last for six months.

He added that during the early hours of the pact, Gaza's border crossings will be opened in order to allow basic supplies into the Gaza Strip. Al-Hayyah said that Egyptian mediators are working to extend the truce to the West Bank.

Al-Hayyah siad: "During the second week of the truce, Cairo will host a meeting bringing Hamas, the Palestinian presidency, and the European members to work on the opening of the Rafah border crossing."

***Last updated at 12:08 local time

Expectations low for success of ceasefire

Date: 18 / 06 / 2008  Time:  11:04
Jerusalem – Ma'an –

Israeli officials are worried that armed Palestinian groups will carry out an attack on Israeli occupation forces before the newly announced ceasefire comes into effect in the Gaza Strip at 6am on Thursday.

An Israeli official source told Israeli reporters: "the Palestinians [will use] the moments before the truce so as to show off and be the strongest in front of the public but if that took place Israel will end the truce immediately."

Three stages

Israeli sources say that the truce will be implemented in three stages:

The first stage is a period of calm that will begin on Thursday morning and last three days.

The second stage, beginning on Sunday, involves Israel opening some of the Gaza Strip's border crossings, and the beginning of negotiations towards a prisoner exchange and the release of Gilad Shalit.

The third stage begins only when Shalit's release has been secured. Only then, Israeli officials say, will they allow Egypt to open the critical Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt.

Israeli officials say that each of these stages is dependent on the discipline of Hamas and its commitment, along with the other factions, to implement the ceasefire.

Israeli occupation government defense minister, Ehud Barak, called on the Israeli occupation forces to take advantage of this truce to return Shalit to Israel.

Elements of the Israeli military leadership expressed "pessimism" that the truce will last for a full six months. Viewing the truce as a 'victory' for the Palestinians, Israeli military officials said they would not hesitate to attack the Gaza Strip if the truce fails.

Hamas leader Khaled Mesha'al said that the truce means that Israel has to lift its siege of the Gaza Strip and that Israeli violation of the agreement will not go unanswered. Mesha'al has said that the establishment of a permanent truce would benefit the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. 

Israeli occupation government president, Shimon Peres, said that Hamas is being worn down by the Israeli blockade of Gaza and worried that there may be disagreement among Palestinian officials about the meaning of the agreement since the pact was negotiated indirectly through Egyptian mediators.

Barak says it’s early to declare that a truce deal was reached

Wednesday June 18, 2008 01:14 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli occupation government defense minister, Ehud Barak, stated on Tuesday that it is too early right now to say that Egypt brokered a truce deal between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups in the Gaza Strip.

Barak added that Israel will examine the possibility of reaching a calm but cannot determine how long this deal, if fully achieved, will last.

He also said that “the implementation of this deal would be the real test”, and added that Israel wants to exert all needed efforts in order to ensure that no homemade shells are fired from Gaza into Sderot, Ashkelon and other adjacent areas.

Barak also stated that the Israeli occupation government will take all needed efforts to resume talks over the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.  

The statements of Barak came after the Egyptian official news agency reported earlier on Tuesday that Israel and Hamas have agreed on a truce which would start on Thursday.

The agency said that a senior official in Egypt declared that Hamas and Israel have agreed to implement the first phase of a deal which would end violence in Gaza and southern Israel.

 It is worth mentioning that the Israeli occupation army killed six Palestinians on Tuesday in several airstrikes that targeted a number of areas in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-run news website reported that the slain Palestinians are members of the “Army of Islam”.

Hamas: Calm to be coupled with lifting the siege

[ 18/06/2008 - 10:41 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Hamas Movement and other Palestinian resistance factions have agreed to start a temporary truce with the Israeli occupation forces on Thursday morning that would also guarantee the opening of crossings, Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar told a press conference on Tuesday evening.

He explained in the conference held at his home that the Palestinian and Israeli sides have approved the first stage of the Egyptian truce offer that stipulates starting a reciprocal and simultaneous calm in the Gaza Strip first.

Al-Zahar underlined that the calm was the fruit of the Palestinian resistance factions' steadfastness, which culminated in a united stand. He underscored that the calm guarantees the opening of all Gaza crossings within days and calls for direct dialogue between Hamas and Palestinian factions on the one hand and the PA leadership on the other, in the Egyptian capital.

For his part, Dr. Khalil Al-Hayya, another Hamas leader who was present at the same conference, explained articles of the calm agreement that starts with immediate halt to all forms of military operations in the Gaza Strip at 0600 Thursday local time.

The calm with the agreement of all factions would continue for six months and would be followed by opening of all commercial crossings in Gaza within days, he elaborated, adding that all kinds of goods needed by the Strip would be allowed access.

Egypt is to follow up calm so that it would expand to include the West Bank, Al-Hayya said and finally added that Cairo would bring together Hamas, Fatah and the EU in a bid to discuss a mechanism for operating the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

 

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