http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/08/mideast/index.html Great news from the Middle East today. Palestinian, Israeli leaders announce cease-fire Tuesday, February 8, 2005 Posted: 12:16 PM EST (1716 GMT) SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a cease-fire Tuesday, hailing it as a new opportunity for peace in the Middle East. "We have agreed with Prime Minister Sharon to cease all violence against the Israelis and against the Palestinians, wherever they are," Abbas said after talks at their summit in Egypt. The historic summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh -- hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II --is the first upper-level meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in more than four years. Sharon said Israel will cease its military operations in all locations in return for Palestinians' ending violence against Israelis. "We really hope this day will be the day that marks the relaunching of the process for a better future that will lead us towards mutual respect and peace in the Middle East," Sharon said. "A new opportunity for peace is born," Abbas said. Shortly after the announcement, the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas issued a statement saying it is not a party to the agreement. The cease-fire is the position of the Palestinian Authority only, the statement said. Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for deadly attacks against Israeli civilians and the Israeli military. Hamas has been labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Jordan and Egypt, meanwhile, announced their governments would reinstate ambassadors to Israel after a four-year withdrawal, embassy officials said. Both countries maintain a peace agreement with the Jewish state, but withdrew their ambassadors after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensified in September 2000. Sharm el-Sheikh was the site of a Palestinian-Israeli summit in October 2000. About 100 people -- mostly Palestinians -- had died in three weeks of violence, and President Bill Clinton mediated marathon peace talks at the Egyptian resort. That summit -- between Israel's Ehud Barak and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat -- yielded an unsigned "statement of intent" to end the violence. But clashes between Palestinians and Israelis in Gaza and the West Bank continued. President Bush met with Arab leaders at the venue in June 2003 during a trip that also included a meeting in Jordan with Sharon and Abbas, then the Palestinian prime minister. Tuesday's summit is the first time Sharon and Abbas have met since the Palestinian Authority president was elected to succeed Arafat, who succumbed to an unknown illness in November. After Abbas' election, Israel and the Palestinian Authority took confidence-building steps regarding security, Palestinian prisoners and a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Abbas has deployed security forces within the Palestinian territories to prevent terrorist attacks, and Israeli officials have approved the release of some Palestinian prisoners. Last week, an Israeli Cabinet committee approved an end to targeted killings of suspected Palestinian militants and a military withdrawal from five West Bank cities, sources in Sharon's office said. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- after talks with Sharon and Abbas -- announced the two leaders have agreed to meet separately with President Bush in the spring. "This is the most promising moment for progress between Palestinians and Israelis in recent years," Rice said. Rice also said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William Ward will act as a security coordinator and will visit the region in the next few weeks. Ward also will work on Mideast security issues with Egypt and Jordan, she said. Ward's responsibilities will include helping the Palestinians train and equip their security forces. Among his duties, Rice said, would be monitoring compliance with Israeli and Palestinian security agreements. Bush 'impressed' During his weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday, Bush said he looked forward to meeting with Sharon and the Palestinian leader. "I've been impressed by Prime Minister Abbas' commitment to fighting off terror," Bush said. "I've also been impressed by the fact that Israel helped the Palestinians have an election, went out of their way to make sure that people were allowed to go to the polls." A senior State Department official said future international meetings linked to the Mideast peace process are being discussed. Sponsors of the so-called Mideast road map -- the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- may gather soon, the senior State Department official said. The road map calls for an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence, followed by a "final and comprehensive" settlement of the conflict and the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Bush has asked Congress to provide the Palestinian Authority with $350 million in U.S. funds to help rebuild infrastructure damaged or destroyed in the Palestinian territories after four years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition, another $40 million will be "reprogrammed" from money already authorized for a desalination plant and used for immediate assistance in similar infrastructure programs, Rice said. CNN's Ben Wedeman, Guy and Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.
Great news, if Hamas and their ilk can be persuaded to end their violence. If not, it won't last. Keep D&D Civil!!
On the other hand... Palestinian Islamist militant movement Hamas said that it was not bound by the ceasefire announced by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at a Middle East peace summit in Egypt. Abbas’s declaration “expresses only the position of the Palestinian Authority. It does not express the position of the Palestinian movements,” said Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri.... “(Hamas) is maintaining its position. There will not be a real truce with Israel without real reciprocity,” he said. “We will act on the truce depending on the commitment by the Zionist enemy to meet our conditions...." but then they throw this in: Hamas...and other armed groups have nevertheless agreed to a temporary "cooling down" period. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...08/wl_mideast_afp/mideastsummitceasefirehamas Not sure what, if anything, the PA can do about these groups. Cautious optimism is in order, I suppose.
Something or someone will come along and ruin this...as usual. If they don't find peace this time, then I doubt they ever will.
The PLO will need to crack down on Hamas themselves if they really want peace, and their own country. DD
They've actually tried this to a certain degree, as well as making these groups the new security force. They've collected weapons, and continue to collect weapons from Palestinian civilians. Another huge part of their plan is to make large militant groups the police, and use them to actually keep Palestinians from carrying out attacks against Israel, while making it clear to them that they will only hold or gain influence and power as long as they don't carry out their own attacks. I can't remember who's idea it was to make each side responsible for the other's safety, and they would suffer if the other side was attacked. This seems like a watered down version of that. the PA has also set up it's own security to attempt to enforce the cease fire.
I'd nominate Dubya for the mother freakin Nobel Peace Prize if lasting peace directly happens from these talks. Kissinger and Arafat won it, so who knows?
I see the truce is already falling apart. Both Hamas and Al Blah Martyrs Brigade are going to continue attacks. The latter has already orchestrated attacks post-truce. Then, you have Hezbollah who are and will be doing everything they can to blow the truce all to hell with Iran's support. I don't think this will last even a few weeks. So, the Palestinian Authority has agree to the truce. This doesn't mean jack squat if they cannot confront the militant groups or stop the violence. Sharon is going to see that very soon when the Palestinian attacks continue even though Israel is supposed to be stopping their military aggressions. Palestinians will once again continue violence and Sharon will be forced to respond because Abbas cannot do a damn thing about it.
Abbas needs to lead the crackdown on those groups, that is the only way a lasting peace will happen. Well, that and a big wall. DD
