Word: truce
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...Beit Jala misadventure highlights some of the obstacles to a "rolling cease-fire" between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel withdrew from the Bethlehem village before dawn on Thursday, following a local truce brokered by European diplomats. They had agreed to leave if Palestinian gunmen stopped firing on their positions and on the adjacent Israeli neighborhood of Gilo, although fierce fire fights into the night on Wednesday had placed the deal in jeopardy. But although it offered a face-saving exit from an operation that appeared to cause Israel more problems than it solved, and also revived the prospects for new talks...
...truce is a practical example of the "rolling cease-fire" concept that Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat plan to discuss when they meet under German auspices in the near future - rather than trying to forge a comprehensive cease-fire throughout the West Bank and Gaza, the two sides would work towards such a cease-fire by establishing such agreements on a town-by-town basis. But as violence raged throughout the West Bank and Gaza, the potential for events elsewhere to reignite the battle of Beit Jala remained high...
...Both sides are predictably proclaiming victory over the truce, with the Palestinians claiming to have driven the Israelis out by force of arms, while the Israelis insist their incursion had achieved its aim by ending shooting on Gilo. In truth, however, the Israelis didn't leave until firing stopped. By the same token, their incursion hadn't ended the firing on Gilo, it had actually intensified the attacks as Palestinian fighters streamed into the village to join the battle, adding mortars and heavy machine guns to the fray. The cease-fire was achieved less by the force of arms deployed...
...Israelis to stop Palestinian attacks and arrest Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, Arafat may be increasingly inclined to steer clear of a confrontation with the militants - and Sharon is unlikely to provide him any political cover in the form of tangible concessions to help Arafat sell any truce...
...Bowl, Stringer signed over his check to buy equipment for his high-school team. DIED. BERTIE FELSTEAD, 106, last known surviving member of the World War I British battalion that left the trenches in northern France on Christmas Day, 1915, to play soccer with German soldiers in a spontaneous truce; in Gloucester, U.K. The enemies also chatted and shared cigarettes before a British major ordered an end to the fraternizing. DIED. JOHN WALTERS, 63, witty bbc radio and TV personality with cutting-edge musical tastes who produced the influential John Peel radio show Top Gear in the 1960s...