 Palestinian militants have agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a halt to targetted killings, it emerged last night. Mahmoud Abbas, the ineffectual Palestinian President, telephoned Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and told him that all Palestinian factions had agreed to a ceasefire from 6am this morning.
Olmert replied that if there was no rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli forces could stop their operations and begin to withdraw from Gaza. The ceasefire could bring an end to a spate of violence which has seen the death of more than 100 Palestinians in Israeli operations and two Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian rockets within the past month.
If the ceasefire is successful, it could bring about a host of developments including the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in June, Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners and the formation of a new Palestinian government. The agreed ceasefire only relates to Gaza and does not include the West Bank. Israel said it also included a stop to the digging of tunnels to Egypt, used to smuggle arms to the militants.
| Ha, you don't honestly believe that, do you? |
In an indication of a new atmosphere, the murderous Khaled Mashal, an exiled leader of the militant Hamas organisation, said in Cairo that his organisation was willing to give Israel the opportunity to negotiate on the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza for six months. If the Israelis did not take up the opportunity, he said, the Palestinians would reply with a third 'intifada'.
| Hokay, Olmert, you got six months to get your country ready or get out of the way and let someone else do it. |
'Hamas will become stronger all resistance forces will become stronger ... and will go on with a third uprising,' he said. Mashal, who wields massive influence in Hamas because he is the main conduit for money, was skulking about in Cairo to discuss the release of Shalit and the formation of a new government with representatives of Abbas's Fatah faction and the Egyptian government. He is seen as a hardliner in the Hamas movement with close ties to the military wing.
| Because he's the money-man connected to the Mad Mullahs™, but don't expect the MSM to tell you that. |
|