Israel's Prime Minister declares ceasefire -Herb Keinon
[T]he [Israeli] security cabinet Saturday night approved [a]cease-fire by a vote of 7-2, with one abstention.
Israel will stop its offensive, but will keep the IDF forces in place, see how Hamas responds and whether an effective mechanism will be set up on the border to stop smuggling.
[Prime Minister] Olmert said the cease-fire would go into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
Immediately following Olmert's announcement, Hamas fired eight missiles at Israel. The return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit was not a condition of the cease-fire...
[Jerusalem Post]
Late-night rocket barrage slams South -Shelly Paz & Yaakov Lappin
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to fire rockets at the western Negev on Saturday evening, despite a cabinet decision that the IDF would halt their fire from 2 a.m. Sunday.
At least seven rockets were fired after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced the unilateral cease-fire, with one Grad-type rocket causing power outages in Ashdod. Rockets also hit Ashkelon and Beersheba.
[Jerusalem Post]
UPDATE:
Hamas declares ceasefire, gives IDF one week to withdraw
-Khaled Abu Toameh
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal [pictured above] announced on Syrian television on Sunday afternoon that the Islamic group would implement a cease-fire in which they would halt all military activity and give IDF troops one week to pull out of the Gaza Strip.
According to the statement, Israel must end the blockade and open the Rafah border crossing. The development comes after Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire which took effect earlier Sunday morning. The two cease-fires do not appear to be coordinated with each other, and have contradicting demands.
While Israel said it would halt all military activity, it said it would maintain its presence in Gaza until it was clear that Palestinian gunmen would honor the calm.
Israel said it would not open any border crossings until all hostilities have ceased.
Hamas said it would continue to fight despite Israel's decision unilaterally end the offensive. However, defiant statements issued by a number of Hamas representatives were countered by sources close to the movement which said the group would honor the cease-fire. "Hamas needs the lull," the sources said. "They have been hit hard and they have no choice but to comply."
[Jerusalem Post]
2 comments:
I don't know if it was quite time to make this unilateral decision. I won't pretend to understand what was in the Israelis minds at any point, and certainly they were the overwhelming force throughout, and no one could question that, but there did seem a few more things to accomplish before this announcement. But certainly, I am in no position to tell anyone else they should keep a war going. I hope this worked out for them as they had planned. By the way, keeping up with your whirlwind blog is interesting and head-spinning! I must compliment you on your war coverage mode---The New York Times could not keep up any better!! You are like a MidEast Soundbite machine!! Congratulations on the pace you were able to keep up during this tumultuous time!!
Why thank you. Your positive feedback is music to my ears.
I even kept my full time job...but my mind was really in Israel. To quote Nachum Segal says: "Our brothers & sisters in Israel, we are with you."
LHWrites, thank you for keeping up with me.
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