Israel and the Palestinian factions today agreed to an “open-ended ceasefire” that includes materially all of the same terms as the failed Egypt proposal for a truce, and seems likely to be a de facto end to the current Gaza War.
The ceasefire will include the opening of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, which Israel ironically enough bombed only yesterday, and the opening of Israeli crossings into Gaza under Israeli supervision, with the import of humanitarian aid the main focus.
In addition, Israel will allow the expansion of Gaza’s fishing zones, exactly as was proposed in the Egypt truce, and will also reduce the no-go area along the Gaza-Israel border from 300 meters to 100 meters, significantly increasing the amount of farmland Palestinians can access.
The ceasefire holds off to future discussion the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on several other issues, including prisoner releases and the opening of a UN-run seaport on the Gaza coast, which would give the tiny enclave access to international commerce.
Such issues were a big sticking point in the truce negotiations, and getting an open-ended ceasefire in place, even while punting on these matters, should at the very least make the deal semi-plausible for Israeli officials who opposed making major concessions.
The main provisions, of course, are a cessation of hostilities between the two sides, though the opening of the border crossings should enable reconstruction of the massive damage caused by the Israeli onslaught to begin sooner.
Peace wil give prosperity and wars will destroy our well beings. Human life should be respected we are sons and daughters of same Adam and Eve and is common in every religion.
Any (settlement) halting the continued destruction of the Gaza Strip is good news.
One has to ask Oboomer and his Zionist puppet masters what was gained by this (current)
Israeli aggression? The Zionists (agreed) to just about everything in the Egypt (plan).
At least for now the Palestinian people can make an attempt to rebuild their
shattered enclave, and gain some semblance of a (normal) existence. I would also
ask for a war crimes investigation against the Zionist regime occupying Palestine.
But, that would be asking too much.
The next potential important development is that the EU is very unhappy about the Israeli expectation that it will pay to rebuild all the things that Israel just smashed (again).
There has already been talk in the EU of forcing Israel to pay for what it did. This could add to the movement already visible in the EU to stand up to Israel and the US on the Palestinian question.
The Israelis made a potential mess for themselves with the EU. They keep doing this. One day it will be too much, the natural result of such arrogance. Not this time? Maybe, maybe not, but inevitably if they keep this up, as they will.
The world witnessed a heinous crime committed by Israel in front of their eyes. It was a massacre against a practically armless people, but the media called it a war.
Israel only manages destruction. Constructive measures towards peace or justice are never considered. If Israel could abandon the lies and hatred of its "enemies" and try to think of thers as humans, even if not "chosen", some progress will be possible. Their education works against this -see Nurit Peled's interview on Miko Peled's website, about Israeli textbooks' portrayal of "Arabs".