Haaretz is reporting that Hamas leaders agreed in Moscow today to extend the ceasefire hammered out at last year Sharm al-Sheikh for another full year…
“Hamas confirmed its willingness not to withdraw from the March 2005 inter-Palestinian agreement on a cease-fire on the understanding that Israel will also refrain from use of force,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
That’s not a bad idea, is it? I mean, Israel’s major security concern at the moment is that Hamas will instigate a renewal of suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians. An agreement isn’t a guarantee, but it’s a good start. It’s to Russia - Mikael Gorbachev, specifically - that we owe the expression “trust, but verify.”
A ceasefire would give the two sides some time to figure each other out, and determine if there’s any basis for negotiation.
Khaled Meshal, Hamas’ political leader, said the group was willing to make peace with Israel if it withdrew to the 1967 borders. However,
“The issue of recognition is a done issue. We are not going to recognize Israel.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was a
“need for Hamas having been elected to a political body to transform itself into a political party and to be sure that the military wing of Hamas become a legitimate part of the Palestinian security structures.”
Lavrov urged patience, saying that “we don’t expect that Hamas will do all this and change itself overnight… It will be a process, hopefully not as long as the process in Great Britain regarding Northern Ireland,” he added.
The article also notes that South Africa has invited Hamas leaders for talks. Israel is expressing fear that the international commitment to isolate Hamas is breaking down.
That didn’t take very long!
Do you mean to say that it hasn’t taken very long for the international community’s commitment to isolate Hamas to break down, or that it hasn’t taken very long for Israel to accuse the world of violating its commitment?
The former.