Word: truce
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Egyptians are suggesting that both sides agree to an immediate truce, then work out long-term details on lifting the Israeli blockade of Gaza. However, one member of the Hamas politburo in Damascus complained to TIME that the proposal does not call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. "Without that, it's a joke," he said...
...crisis in the area. Hamas has responded to the siege by regularly raining rockets into southern Israeli towns from Gaza. Despite mutual agreement in June 2008 to a 6-month ceasefire, Israel continued their blockade of Gaza and Hamas responded with sporadic mortar hits. After the expiration of the truce on December 19, a surge of Hamas rocket attacks that wounded one Israeli caused the country to step up the blockage. Finally, on December 26, just over a week later, Israeli forces began a massive bombardment of Gaza that has so far left close to 700 Palestinians and five Israelis...
...relations with Syria, has better access to Hamas than Egypt does. Turkey also has historically close relations with Israel and is a key NATO member, although it has angered Israeli leaders by condemning Israel for maintaining the economic siege of Gaza even while Hamas observed last year's truce. There's emerging consensus in diplomatic discussions about a cease-fire of the need to deploy an international force in Gaza to police it, and Turkey would be a prime candidate for such a mission...
...believes it is winning the political battle, as images of the horrors being suffered by the Palestinian civilian population flash around the world. And it wants to ensure the survival of as much of its military and organizational capabilities as possible so as to best profit from an eventual truce...
...Israeli military operation endures, Hamas believes, the more it damages the Israelis' political goal of isolating and weakening the radical movement. A cease-fire that ends rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel won't necessarily be a setback for Hamas; the organization has, in fact, demanded such a truce all along, on the condition that Israel and Egypt open the border crossings that would allow a resumption of normal economic life in Gaza. (The crossings have long been closed, as Israel hoped that economic pressure might topple the Hamas regime there.) A cease-fire that fails to reopen the crossings...