Israel and Hamas agree to cease-fire
Truce expected to start tommorow in the Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM - Israel and Hamas agreed in principle yesterday to a truce brokered by the Egyptian government that could halt months of escalating attacks in and around the Gaza Strip, officials on both sides said.
The truce is expected to begin in the coming days, possibly as soon as tomorrow, although officials familiar with the talks cautioned that heavy violence before then could lead to a breakdown in the agreement.
The truce was first reported yesterday afternoon by Egyptian state media, and was confirmed by a Hamas official in Gaza.
Israeli officials said the final details needed to be ironed out. They said Israel's special envoy, Amos Gilad, had been unexpectedly dispatched to Cairo yesterday afternoon for that purpose.
"There'll be a cessation of all hostile acts and military action on both sides starting 6 a.m. Thursday Cairo time," said Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry. Zaki said the cease-fire accord "is more of an understanding than an official agreement," and was not a signed document.
Previous cease-fire attempts in Gaza have failed. In late 2006, Israel reached a truce deal with the Palestinian Authority, but the calm was short-lived.
For Palestinians, the accord announced yesterday will relax Israeli restrictions on the flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza, Zaki said. In return, Israel demanded an end to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and weapons smuggling through tunnels that connect Egypt and Gaza; as well as progress in efforts to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The Palestinians, "said they were open to talking about" Shalit, Zaki said. And "the Israelis promised to gradually relax the firm closure that they have imposed on the Gaza Strip for the past year."
Zaki said the talks included representatives of several Palestinian factions, including other armed groups in Gaza. If the cease-fire holds, its terms might next be applied in the West Bank, he said. Hamas had initially lobbied for the truce to apply to both Gaza and the West Bank, but Israel balked at that idea and limited negotiations to Gaza, officials said. Hamas has a significant following in the West Bank, but its rival, the moderate Fatah party, holds sway there.
"We have been able to secure a Palestinian position in support for this cease-fire," Zaki said. "We think we were also able to get an Israeli position that welcomes the cease-fire and is ready to implement it. We hope both parties will honor the agreement. "
Tarek Hassan, a member of Egypt's governing party and deputy chief of the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper, sat in on the negotiations. Hassan said the accord came in what is meant to be the first phase of negotiations, and covered only an ending of hostilities.
All Palestinian groups, negotiating separately, agreed to stop firing rockets toward Israel, Hassan said, while Israel said it would stop all military action in Gaza. According to Hassan, both sides agreed that Israel would allow more fuel, food, and other supplies into Gaza starting Sunday, if the cease-fire holds. Negotiations would also start Sunday about any exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in return for Shalit, Hassan said.
Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, would not directly confirm the truce, but did not deny it. "The security Cabinet took a clear decision to support the Egyptian track," Regev said, referring to an announcement earlier this month that Israel would continue with the negotiations. "Obviously, if this is going to be successful, we'll need more than words. We'll need deeds."
Regev said those deeds would include progress on Shalit's status, and a halt to rocket fire and weapons smuggling.
Since Hamas took control of Gaza last June, there has been a significant escalation in rocket and mortar fire from Gaza into southern Israel. A 52-year-old Israeli civilian was killed in an attack earlier this month.
At the same time, Israel has waged a near-daily campaign of attacks against gunmen from Hamas and other militant groups. Many Palestinian civilians also have been killed in those strikes.
Violence continued yesterday, with Israel killing six gunmen in Gaza. The deadly Israeli attacks followed days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza.
In Sderot, an Israeli town that borders Gaza and that has borne a large share of the rocket fire, news of the potential truce was greeted with relief by some.
"We have been waiting for quiet for a long time, and the people here are fed up with the anxieties they had to face," said Michael Amsalem, a member of Sderot's municipal council. "I believe that the agreement will bring many smiles to the faces of the people in this town. I am happy we are achieving the quiet this way and not through war, because everyone knows that the price of war would have been high."
But others in Israel were less sanguine. "This is a great victory for Hamas and Iran, and it's a great failure on behalf of Israel," said Yuval Steinitz, a leading member of the opposition Likud party, which favors an invasion of Gaza aimed at dismantling Hamas. "This is going to be extremely costly, because when we have to act in Gaza, Hamas's capability will be much stronger than it is today."
The agreement follows months of talks that were supported by the US government. Israel and Hamas did not negotiate face-to-face, but instead traded proposals through Egypt.
Mediators in the talks met with representatives of Saudi Arabia, the United States and Syria to ask them to support the cease-fire and future negotiations, Hassan said.
Israel had publicly contemplated launching a wide-scale invasion of Gaza aimed at ousting Hamas, the option Likud prefers. Olmert and his top aides ultimately decided against it, out of concern that the Israeli military would get bogged down in an unwinnable counter-insurgency campaign featuring high casualties on both sides. But a senior Israeli official said yesterday the option remains on the table.
"If this breaks down, there will not be another attempt at a cease-fire. There will be a large-scale Israeli operation," the official said. "This has to hold." 