Cease-fire takes effect to end Gaza war

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and PETER ENAV

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israel-Hamas cease-fire, meant to last three days, went into effect on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip, setting the stage for talks in Cairo aimed at reaching a broader deal on a sustainable truce and the rebuilding of the battered coastal territory.

The temporary truce, agreed to by both sides, started at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and halted almost a month of fighting.

Israeli ground troops withdrew from the strip's border areas, the shelling stopped and in Gaza City, where streets had been deserted during the war, traffic picked up and shops started opening doors.

If the calm holds, Egypt plans to start shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian delegations in Cairo to work out new arrangements for Gaza. The territory has been virtually cut off from the world since a violent Hamas takeover in 2007 prompted a closure of the territory's borders by Egypt and Israel.

FULL story at link.



Israeli reserve soldiers are seen on the top of an armored personnel carrier returning to Israel from Gaza Strip, southern Israel, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014. A brief cease-fire declared by Israel and troop withdrawals slowed violence in the Gaza war Monday, but an attack on an Israeli bus that killed one person in Jerusalem underscored the tensions still simmering in the region as Israeli airstrikes resumed late in the day. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140805/ml--israel-palestinians-488bfff4fd.html

[cpwm17]

1. "The territory has been virtually cut off from the world since a violent Hamas takeover in 2007

prompted a closure of the territory's borders by Egypt and Israel."

No, they had that election thing and Hamas won. Israel tried to stage a coup and Hamas wasn't defeated.

[hack89]

4. Nonsense. Hamas and Fatah fought a bloody civil war in Gaza

that Hamas won. Israel had nothing to do with it.

[7962]

2. So there will be no more rocket fire from Gaza? Good.

[riverwalker]

5. these rockets?

Gaza's Bottle Rockets

Why Hamas' Arsenal Wasn't Worth a War

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141698/mark-perry/gazas-bottle-rockets

[bemildred]

7. Do you? nt

[Indydem]

9. Nope.

I sleep quite well knowing I support civilization.

[bemildred]

11. Civilization doesn't need your sort of "support". nt

[riverwalker]

10. it is written by Mark Perry

he knows what he is talking about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Perry_(author)

[7962]

12. Yeah, "bottle rocket" until it hits YOUR house. And Iran has supplied them with guidance now.

I guess Israel should wait until the rockets get bigger and more accurate then? Thats like not going to the doctor because its only the toe infected. Just go when its the whole leg?
The main focus of the operation has been to both destroy the arsenal and find and destroy all the tunnels into Israel. Dozens have been found. All well built with millions of dollars that couldve been used to help their people. But thats not the focus of Hamas.
And most of the Arab countries in the area are probably quietly backing Israel's attempt to root out Hamas. Odd how Israel gets more grief on DU than in Saudi Arabia, egypt, Jordan, etc.

[Javaman]

3. Until the next time. nt

[Turbineguy]

8. Cease-fires are great opportunities

to get people from Europe to help pay for the damage, divert a lot of the money, rebuild the arsenal and means of using it and starting over.


In the US a homeless person might ask, "How can I be homeless? I always voted for republicans!"