With the ceasefire taking hold at 2 PM EST in the Gaza Strip, many were expecting it to collapse in a matter of hours. Yet by evening the deal was still holding, and seems to be solid, at least to the extent anything in the region is solid.
But with mistrust high on both sides, analysts say it “might not last very long,” and some Israeli officials are just selling the ceasefire on the grounds that it might eventually collapse and really give them an excuse for a big war.
“The Egyptians and Americans have backed this deal, so if it falls apart they know that we would have a legitimate reason to go in hard,” noted one. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, however, says the faction will respect the truce so long as Israel does.
In the end, the real challenge to the ceasefire is likely to come from smaller Gaza factions that didn’t agree to go along with the deal, particularly in the near term as Hamas is focused mostly on rebuilding its own infrastructure instead of keeping its rivals in check.
Hamas already violated the ceasefire, something that won't be covered by this odious website.
Apparently has been covered, to the extent there was something to cover(?): news.antiwar.com/2012/11/21/israel-hamas-agree-to-ceasefire/ There's also the issue of who it was, if it was at all: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/opinion/israels-shorts...
"For years, it has been the same story: Israeli intelligence discovers information about an impending terrorist attack from Gaza. The Israeli Army takes pre-emptive action with an airstrike against the suspected terror cells, which are often made up of fighters from groups like Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees or Salafi groups not under Hamas’s control but functioning within its territory. These cells launch rockets into Israeli towns near Gaza, and they often miss their targets." Which they almost always did lately, if I recall correctly.
News at Eleven: IDF makes stuff up.
Hey Schmuck, I know you love living up to your moniker but seriously, if you think this is an odious website then why visit it? Could it just be that your zionist likudnik buddies have been shown up for the murdering terrorists that they are and you, like a petulant child, have to lash out? Maybe you should add another name to your on-line tag – like "Dumb"
Recent history has shown us that you cannot possibly broker an agreement with Israel. The brokered seize fire will soon be a broken seize fire. They always find a pretext to start another war. Zionists can never be trusted, everyone should know that by now.