Summary
The Israeli government and the two main Palestinian Islamist resistance groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have all indicated their willingness to engage in Egyptian-led indirect talks to bring about a lull in the fighting. Whether this is called a "cease-fire," a "truce" or - as Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza called it - "a calm atmosphere" that Egypt requested as a prelude to a wider deal, is mere word-craft. The more significant political meaning of what is going on today is that parties that have declared their diehard determination to destroy each other are quietly negotiating implicit coexistence.
Israel continues to expand its colonial settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. The American government that named itself at Annapolis the arbiter of compliance with the "road map" peace-making requirements meekly calls continued Israeli colonization "not helpful" to the peace process; and the Arabs, Europeans, Russians and U.N. seem blissfully oblivious to their potential to play a constructive role in this saga.See the full content of this document
Extract
Current Lull Provides Opportunity
BEIRUT - Out of crisis comes opportunity, which describes the current brief lull in the war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movements in Gaza. Rather than just trying to calm things down, this is the moment to push hard diplomatically to...
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