US to sign pact with Israel to block Hamas arms-Olmert

[Barack_America]

Source: Reuters

JERUSALEM, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday Washington would sign an agreement on measures to stop Hamas from rearming after a ceasefire, Olmert's office said.

"The secretary of state noted that the United States would be prepared to assist in solving the issue of smuggling and to sign a memorandum of understanding with Israel on the subject," Olmert's office said in a statement on the 20th day of Israel's offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUKLF460047

---

Wonder what this would entail and whether the terms are something the Obama administration could agree with.

[thewiseguy]

1. Olmert is on his way out and so is Bush

Fuck them both.

[bunnies]

2. Meaningless.

Pack your shit Condi. You're outta here.

[redqueen]

9. So if they sign an agreement... it's null and void after Bush leaves office?

Am I the only one here who's slightly concerned about this?

[Jefferson23]

3. January 20th, I can't stand the waiting any longer.

And at the same time, Condi is so concerned about civilian casualties, bullshit on these bastards.

[2QT2BSTR8]

4. In these last few days, I feel like time is actually slowing down..

I am so anxious for each day to day that every single day this week feels like its 3 times as long.

I an SO excited about Tuesday when we will actually have a President for the first time in 8 years.

Go Obama!!!

<edit for mistype on word>

[Barack_America]

5. UPDATE: Israel's Livni flies to Washington over Gaza plan

Reuters:

Israel's Livni flies to Washington over Gaza plan

15 Jan 2009 21:35:03 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds no Israeli comment on Hamas proposal)

JERUSALEM, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would travel to Washington to finalise an accord designed to prevent Hamas from rearming, a key Israeli condition for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert authorised this evening the trip of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to the United States in order to promote an American-Israeli outlined agreement intended to deal with weapons smuggling," Olmert's office said in a statement.

The statement made no mention of a proposal by Hamas, relayed by Egypt, for a year-long ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for Olmert also declined to comment on any ceasefire proposal.

Hamas told Egypt it would agree to a year-long renewable ceasefire if Israel pulls out all its forces within 5-7 days and reopens border crossings immediately, Hamas and diplomatic sources said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LF21283783.htm

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Israel is clearly anxious to get this done while Bush is still in office, but why? They can't believe this is a meaningful agreement. Or do they? Or is this about Bush letting Israel save face, allowing them to end an unpopular offensive and still say they "accomplished their set goals"?

[redqueen]

10. "Israel is clearly anxious to get this done while Bush is still in office, but why?"

I'm curious about that as well. If it's meaningless, then what's the point? PR?

[zonmoy]

6. Is this bushes last chance to say to the israelis

yes massa thank you massa.

[GoesTo11]

7. Is anyone here glad that it looks like there'll be a cease fire?

Just kidding.

[redqueen]

8. Updated report - Includes details about the agreement. "US technical and logistical support"

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Israel are signing an agreement intended to assure the Jewish state that Hamas militants will not be able to rearm if it agrees to a cease-fire to end the fighting in Gaza, officials say.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are to ink the deal on Friday, the U.S. State Department and Israeli Embassy said. They said that among other things, the pact would lead Israel to end its military operations in Gaza.

The agreement also would assure Israel that additional steps will be taken to end weapons smuggling into Gaza and prevent Hamas from rearming. Diplomats say the text calls for enhanced intelligence cooperation and U.S. technical and logistical support for border monitors.

The diplomats say the hope is that the agreement will satisfy Israeli concerns about reopening Gaza border crossings and will be an important piece of an Egyptian cease-fire initiative being negotiated in Cairo to end the fighting that has killed some 1,100 Palestinians since Israel launched the operation on Dec. 27. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, four by rocket fire, according to the military.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g14_OgVc3KvfIE0q7FpUa4Ou69QQD95OAB201

---

I'm curious about what "U.S. technical and logistical support" entails in this agreement.



edit: I did search for the article's title but didn't find it... missed this thread.

[Scurrilous]

11. U.S. technical and logistical support = equipment & trainers?

Tunnel tech key to ending war in Gaza

<snip>

"FROM radar to fibre optics and sweat, finding a workable method of unearthing the smuggling tunnels that connect Gaza to Egypt has become key to ending Israel's incursion.

The United States has promised Egypt US$33 million (S$49.1 million) of gear to detect the tunnels which Israel says are used to smuggle weapons, including the rockets that are fired regularly at Israel, as well as food and medicine.

Israel says it will not halt its offensive until it has guarantees that tunnel smuggling will end.

What technologies are likely to be deployed?

The Nazis buried microphones to detect prisoner escape bids during World War II, while Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) invented by the US to combat Viet Cong tunnels has been further developed by archaeologists.

Such methods and weirder ones, like sniffing for human sweat, remain the favourites of tunnel busters from Mexico to Northern Ireland.

Dr Lawrence Conyers of the University of Denver said GPR - in this case, dragging a radar behind a moving vehicle - is the best tunnel-detecting technology, especially for the sandy soil on the 14km-long Egypt-Gaza border.

"But it's not like turning on a metal detector and having it 'beep' when it finds things," he said. "Data processing and interpretation are needed."

Egyptian soldiers have reportedly been trained to use the US equipment, but it won't be easy: The soldier must learn how to collect the data while dragging the device behind a truck travelling at 30kmh, and process it on a laptop.

Israeli researchers have also developed a potentially revolutionary system which uses a fibre- optic cable that can detect and identify the most minute soil movements - and requires no expertise to operate.

"The advantage is that we can monitor 30km of fibre using only one computer and you don't need to go along the border because it's already buried underground," says Dr Assaf Klar of Israel's Technion Institute of Technology."

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20090115-114757.html

[redqueen]

12. So just a continuation of that?

That seems reasonable enough I suppose.

[Scurrilous]

13. Maybe something more effective.

US-funded program fails to stop tunnel smuggling (Jan 7, 2009)

<snip>

"Angry at Hamas' ability to fire rockets at Israel, the United States last year allocated $23 million to help train Egyptian officials to stop the smuggling into Gaza through tunnels at a border plagued by crisis and corruption.

Months later, there is little noticeable effect: Smuggling has continued at a robust pace, allowing Hamas militants in Gaza to gain rockets to shoot at Israeli citizens. Israel's military says about 300 tunnels ran under the Gaza-Egypt border before its military offensive began Dec. 27. Since then, Israel has bombed dozens of them.

The story of the U.S.-funded program and its lack of impact on the problem is a cautionary tale of how hard it has been to control Gaza's border with Egypt — at a time when patrolling that frontier and stopping the weapons flow are once again hot issues as mediators seek a cease-fire in Gaza.

Previous attempts to close the tunnels have largely failed, partly because of the mutual mistrust between Israel and Egypt and partly because of Egypt's inability to rein in corruption and alleviate poverty in the Sinai. The region near Gaza is home to tens of thousands of mostly disaffected Bedouin. Many of these nomads earn their living through smuggling.

more