PrintJanuary 7, 2009
Cease fire near in Gaza?
It appears that there has been some movement in the Israeli cabinet toward calling a halt to military operations in Gaza:
Haaretz is reporting that French President Sarkozy and Egypt's Mubarak have brokered a cease fire that has been accepted by both the Israelis and Palestinians:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to an Egyptian-French proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
"The president is delighted by the acceptance by Israel and the Palestinian Authority of the Franco-Egyptian plan presented last night in Sharm el-Sheikh by [Egyptian] President [Hosni] Mubarak," said a statement from Sarkozy's office.
The AP is also reporting a cease fire agreement has been reached although there has been no definitive word from the Israeli cabinet which has been meeting in a marathon session.
In truth, there is precious little left for the IDF to accomplish. They have knocked out the rocket launch sites, destroyed most if not all of the smuggling tunnels, and smashed up Hamas infrastructure. Further operations would only kill more civilians - something even Hamas now sees as a zero sum game.
They haven't "destroyed" Hamas but they've pretty much destroyed their rule. And most importantly, they have given a few months respite to Israeli citizens from rocket attacks. Of course, Israel's detractors will say that was no reason to go to war for.
Maybe we should put them up in some Israeli towns under the gun from Hamas. They just might change their mind.
