Word: truce
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Pressure is mounting on Israel and Hamas to find a way to end the war in Gaza. Both sides have responded positively, if tentatively, to Egyptian proposals for a phased truce that would begin with a lull in fighting for a defined period (10 days, by some accounts). That interlude would then allow for the brokering of a more comprehensive cease-fire. But each side's goals from any truce remain antagonistic to the other's, and reaching an agreement that bridges the vast gap between them remains a herculean diplomatic challenge...
...Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza and prevent Hamas from being able to rearm by smuggling weapons from Egypt. Israel remains committed, however, to a long-term goal of ending Hamas' control of Gaza, and it insists that the movement should gain no "recognition" or "legitimacy" as part of any truce - a tough call since Hamas is the key combatant on the Palestinian side. (See pictures of the Gaza ground...
...more than 2.5% so far.) That would force Israel to reoccupy a territory from which it sought to separate in 2005. Still, Israeli leaders hope the military operation can deal a powerful enough blow to hobble Hamas. They still wish to see Abbas' authority reimposed as part of any truce. More realistically, perhaps, Arab mediators and the U.N. Security Council have urged that cease-fire plans restore reconciliation between Abbas and Hamas. Arab countries had previously brokered a national-unity government between the two, and Hamas remains the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority's legislature. But Israel has long...
...Israeli envoy Amos Gilad returned from Cairo on Thursday night to brief Olmert and his Defense and Foreign Ministers about Hamas' response to the Egyptian truce proposals. Israeli officials claim that Hamas may be willing to drop two previous demands: that Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza before Hamas stops firing its rockets into Israel and that Hamas control the Gaza border crossings with Israel and Egypt. These sources say Hamas has agreed that the Gaza crossings be manned by a force loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival supported by Israel and the U.S. So far, Olmert...
...Hamas, too, seemed out to inflict as much damage as possible on Israel before any truce. Militants fired more than 30 rockets at Israeli towns on Thursday, wounding at least five people in Beersheba, including a child...