This, from AP:
- Israel has stopped targeting Palestinian militants for death, according to Israeli security officials, fulfilling a key Palestinian demand for a truce to end four years of violence.
The whole of that story is really interesting. It includes an account of a phone interview that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal gave to an AP reporter in Beirut today. (Which mentions some of the main points I noted in my previous post here.)
Security coordination in Gaza is going ahead, and Saeb Erakat has said that he and some Sharon aides have started preliminary discussions about setting up a Sharon-Abu Mazen meeting.
The Israeli irredentists are also organizing to “resist” being evacuated from Gaza and the four small West Bank settlements on Sharon’s “first to evacuate” list.
Hope this new beginning changes the dynamics for good and for the better. If that is the case, history will have to conclude that Bush was right and the problem was you-know-who.
David
Let’s see how long THIS truce/ceasefire/whatever will go on before the Israeli government’s urge to take out another Palestinian leader becomes too overwhelming to resist.
And while you are at it Shirin let’s see which side breaks it. For all the talking heads that repeat the idea of the circle of violence, we will see that it ain’t no circle. There are bets involving chocolate around this board, I wouldn’t mind getting some free Cadburys over this question.
David
well, according to haaretz, the IDF killed an unarmed palestinian today.
According to the same article, the Palestinian in question was killed after he charged an army post and refused to halt for warning shots.
Thus far, the “honors” seem to be about equal on both sides – two Qassams and a few minor shooting incidents from the Palestinians, and a Hamas member killed by the IDF in a botched West Bank arrest. I wouldn’t call any of them a deal-breaker, especially given the maturity that both Israeli and Palestinian officials have been showing for the past week.
None of us knows how things will turn out. We cannot even agree on what caused the current improvement in the situation: The death of Arafat, the death of Hamas leaders, the Wall, the success of the IDF in stopping suicide bombers, the maturation of this group or that…
We can be absolutely certain however, that if peace breaks out, Bush will take credit for it, the EU will take credit for it, the UN will take credit for it, the CIA will take credit for it, the Israelis will take credit for it, the Palestinians will take credit for it, and the Saudis will take credit for it…
None of us knows how things will turn out. We cannot even agree on what caused the current improvement in the situation: The death of Arafat, the death of Hamas leaders, the Wall, the success of the IDF in stopping suicide bombers, the maturation of this group or that…
We can be absolutely certain however, that if peace breaks out, Bush will take credit for it, the EU will take credit for it, the UN will take credit for it, the CIA will take credit for it, the Israelis will take credit for it, the Palestinians will take credit for it, and the Saudis will take credit for it…
jonathan, i did read that part of the article. still, the fact remains that the man was unarmed and i think he was 65 years old. this raises the question of who is a legitimate target while there is a declared cease-fire. also, according to haaretz a 10-year-old girl was killed today in gaza.
my point here is that a 100% cease-fire is not what is going on. so to say “let’s see who breaks the cease-fire” is not so simple a question. if there is a suicide bombing that is claimed to be retaliation for the death of a 10-year-old girl, who has broken the cease-fire? the israelis for shooting the girl? the palestinians for sending a suicide bomber? my guess is that ultimately, the israeli side is in the position of power. they can end the cease-fire with legitimacy (in the eyes of the american media and the american administration) and the palestinians are not in that position.
Any peace or ceasefire is going to be hostage to any random fanatic or provocateur as long as the border between the Palestinians and Israelis is porous. A big, fat, agreed-upon border would be a great help here. Only heavy weapons could cross a big border, leaving litte doubt who was responsible. Small arms fire is too easy to hide.
jonathan, i did read that part of the article. still, the fact remains that the man was unarmed and i think he was 65 years old. this raises the question of who is a legitimate target while there is a declared cease-fire.
Given the nature of this particular conflict, the soldiers might not have been able to tell whether this unarmed man was packing dynamite, or they may not have had the time to make a judgment call while he was charging the army post. I wasn’t there, so I can’t tell for certain, but thus far it seems that the shooting was a tragic error rather than a cease-fire violation.
I agree, though, that there isn’t a 100 percent cease-fire at this point. I don’t think a 100 percent cease-fire is realistically possible given the amount of friction between the two sides and the number of nervous IDF soldiers and jumpy militants in close proximity. There probably won’t be complete quiet until the evacuation this summer; until then, there will likely be a certain unofficial threshold below which violent incidents are ignored. (For instance, the IDF has been ignoring Palestinian shooting incidents that don’t result in casualties.)
BTW, it now appears that the 10-year-old girl was killed by Palestinian gunfire and that PA security forces have arrested the shooter, which highlights the danger of overly hasty retaliation.
jonathan, i did read that part of the article. still, the fact remains that the man was unarmed and i think he was 65 years old. this raises the question of who is a legitimate target while there is a declared cease-fire.
Given the nature of this particular conflict, the soldiers might not have been able to tell whether this unarmed man was packing dynamite, or they may not have had the time to make a judgment call while he was charging the army post. I wasn’t there, so I can’t tell for certain, but thus far it seems that the shooting was a tragic error rather than a cease-fire violation.
I agree, though, that there isn’t a 100 percent cease-fire at this point. I don’t think a 100 percent cease-fire is realistically possible given the amount of friction between the two sides and the number of nervous IDF soldiers and jumpy militants in close proximity. There probably won’t be complete quiet until the evacuation this summer; until then, there will likely be a certain unofficial threshold below which violent incidents are ignored. (For instance, the IDF has been ignoring Palestinian shooting incidents that don’t result in casualties.)
BTW, it now appears that the 10-year-old girl was killed by Palestinian gunfire and that PA security forces have arrested the shooter, which highlights the danger of overly hasty retaliation.
BTW, it now appears that the 10-year-old girl was killed by Palestinian gunfire and that PA security forces have arrested the shooter
They now seem to be uncertain as to whether or not he was the killer, but I think my point about hasty retaliation stands.