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| Israel-Palestine | |
| Israel Caps Helizaps | |
| 2005-01-27 | |
| Jerusalem, Jan 26 : Agreeing to a key Palestinian demand, Israel has decided to halt its policy of "targeted assassinations" after Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reached a breakthrough deal 'in principle' with militant Hamas faction. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has also decided to resume political contact with Palestinian leaders, which was frozen on January 14 following an attack in the Gaza Strip, public radio announced today. The contact with Israeli officials will re-start "very quickly", notably through Dov Weisglass, one of Sharon's main advisors, it said. Israel informed the PA about its decision to stop "targeted" killings, which was taken after generals from the two sides met yesterday to plan deployment of the Palestinian policemen in central and southern Gaza, security officials told Ha'aretz daily. Abbas yesterday reached an agreement 'in principle' with Hamas leaders in Gaza over the militant faction's participation in the PA's diplomatic decision-making and in a future Palestinian government, sources involved in Abbas' talks were quoted as saying in the local media. The agreements were reached in Abbas' meetings with top Hamas leaders in the territories -- Mahmoud al-Zahar and Ismail Haniyeh.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 must.bomb.bus. |
| Posted by: Abdul al-Explodi 2005-01-27 5:11:35 PM |
| #8 I agree that they need to prove they can police themselves. In fact, I really believe they won't be able to (too much corruption, too many people benefit from the conflict and not enough capability exists). But that's why Israel needs to be pristine in this -- any first-strike military action on the part of Israel would be a pretext for Hamas to say that Israel broke the accord and they'd have an excuse to not police themselves and not fix what's wrong with their society. The bottom line is: it's easier to blame Israel than to actually do the real work that needs to be done. I simply don't want to give them any reason to do that, forcing them to fix the real problems. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-01-27 4:32:03 PM |
| #7 ..which requires that palis start to trust Israel.. You're kidding, right? Israel has provided more than enough reasons for anyone to believe that they can honor their end of an agreement. It's the Paleos, not the Israelis, that need to prove something. The Paleos need to prove they can police themselves. The Paleos need to prove they can honor agreed-upon deals. And most of all, the Paleos need to prove that they can fix what's wrong with their society. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-27 2:08:06 PM |
| #6 Why should anyone care about this? If you mean "why should anyone care about the palis," I would suggest they shouldn't. But I would love to see progress made, which requires that palis start to trust Israel and hamas is marginalized. If Israel were to strike first, it would give great comfort to hamas and would give palis reason to blame Israel for the breakdown of the process. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-01-27 1:39:42 PM |
| #5 ..I do hope Israel doesn't employ any military activity that would be viewed as breaking the agreement. Why should anyone care about this? It's not as if the Paleos themselves have an unblemished record where honoring agreements is concerned... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-27 10:58:55 AM |
| #4 finish the fence....faster |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-27 10:09:46 AM |
| #3 While I do hope Israel continues (or increases, even) a rigorous intelligence-gathering effort, I do hope Israel doesn't employ any military activity that would be viewed as breaking the agreement. But, I think a real concern is that Hamas/IJ will continue to build infrastructure and capability for killing while this hudna is in effect. It's not like they finally accept the existence of Israel. That puts Israel between a rock and a hard place: What does Israel do when it finds a bomb making or rocket making factory? What does Israel do when it uncovers plans for attacks? Given the current dynamics, all Israel would be able to do would be to contact the PA to deal with the threat. That pits pali vs. pali, one faction of which is service to the Jews. Not good odds to say the least. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-01-27 9:37:38 AM |
| #2 Here's hoping for the best! But anyone interestinged in starting a betting pool on how long this will last? I'm betting three-four days before Hamas gives in to their murder addiction and blows up another bus. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-01-27 9:12:20 AM |
| #1 Israel has decided to halt its policy of "targeted assassinations" Bomb's away, eh? |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-27 7:24:42 AM |