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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel Unilateral Cease Fire in Effect |
| 2009-01-17 |
| Prime Minster Ehud Olmert on Saturday night announced that Israel's security cabinet has voted in favor of a unilateral cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which went into effect at 2 A.M. local time. [thats 700 pm EST 1-17-2008] Olmert said that "if Hamas entirely ends its rocket fire on Israel, Israel will consider an IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip." If that did not occur, he said, "The IDF will continue to operate in order to protect our citizens." Most rocket launching areas are now controlled by IDF, he said. [but Hamas is still able to launch about 20 rockets per day, some Grads] "After three weeks of Operation Cast Lead, we are very close to reaching the goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements," Barak said during a visit to the south of the country, according to a statement from his office. The decision means Israel has put an end to Operation Cast Lead without an agreement with Hamas, relying instead on the support of the United States and Egypt in battling arms smuggling into Gaza. Israel said on Sunday it will be prepared to sharply increase the flow of food and medicine to Gaza if the unilateral cease-fire holds, but it ruled out fully lifting a blockade until captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit is freed. "If the quiet holds, there will not be any problem dramatically increasing aid like food and medicine. If this quiet holds, we will work with the international community for reconstruction," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #10 long day... my only excuse |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 23:18 |
| #9 oops - use: Israellycool.com sorry, my bad |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 23:07 |
| #8 Olmert et. al. probably agreed to it because they knew Hamass couldn't keep it together for longer than it would take to run out and set up. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-01-17 23:04 |
| #7 Nineteen minutes? The ceasefire lasted for 19 minutes before HamAss tried to light one off? And I thought I suffered from poor impulse control. Wars end when one side loses the will to fight. Have at it, IDF. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-01-17 22:58 |
| #6 I knew "The Muqata" blog, a good one indeed, but I hadn't checked it before writing here my angry comment... I will look at "Isreallycool". Thanks. |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-17 22:51 |
| #5 FYI - Leroidavid - monitor muqata.blogspot.com and isreallycool.com for accurate (as far as I can tell) realtime updates |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 22:34 |
| #4 Thanks for the information, Frank G. But I continue not to be able to really trust Olmert & Co. |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-17 22:28 |
| #3 Muqata: 2:19 AM Almost made it to bed, Israel breaks ceasefire as IAF hits rocket launcher about to launch from Northern Gaza. That didn't last very long at all. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 22:18 |
| #2 "We are very close to reaching the goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements" (Barak) : 1) this is ridiculous. "Close" means that the goals are not yet reached ! 2) you don't "secure goals" through "diplomatic agrement" : you secure them by winning the battle on the ground ! Those Israeli leaders need to go ! What a bunch of incompetents ! |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-17 22:02 |
| #1 same shit different day |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-01-17 20:13 |