Ceasefire.

[real_skeptic]

This time it's supposed to be a long term one. Well, long term in Middle East terms, which is one month.

The terms of the ceasefire are more or less a tie. The Hamas demands of a seaport and airport and Israel's demand of demilitarization of Gaza will both be discussed starting a month from now. The current terms are:

1. Opening of the border passes. This includes the Rafah pass which has nothing to do with Israel. The Egyptians agreed to open it, provided that control on the other side is in the hands of the Palestinian Authority and not Hamas. The border passes on the Israeli side were open anyway, with hundreds of trucks going through every day with humanitarian supplies. The agreement adds that building materials will also be allowed under strict Israeli supervision that makes sure they are not used for tunnels. But how this will be done is not clear.
2. Extending the fishing zone to 6 nautical miles.

This agreement was not welcomed by the Israeli public, and the Hamas is trying to pass it as their own victory. However, it may be noted that a ceasefire with similar terms was offered last month, when there were merely 200 people dead in Gaza, Israel agreed and the Hamas refused. So in fact 2000 Palestinians were killed, thousands wounded, many houses demolished, and three top Hamas commanders were assassinated - complete waste. Can't count it as a victory on their part even if we can't count it as a victory on ours.

Must say that the militant factions other than the Hamas realized that earlier on and were trying to reach an agreement earlier. But the Hamas was stubborn.

But anyways, hopefully, a month's ceasefire will end up in at least two weeks of calm. :-S

The only small satisfaction is that the Americans were mostly pushed out of this negotiation. They went and tried to impose Turkey and Qatar as mediators, but both Israel and the PA insisted on Egypt, and that stupid idea was thrown to the trash, and there was no American representative involved in the talks or the declaration of the ceasefire. They seem to be rather sour about the whole thing. "OK, we hope all sides stick to the agreement" is their only response. Hah.