Israel is favorably considering the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. However, it is demanding that the indirect understandings with Hamas include real progress on a deal to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
A spokesman for Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, said yesterday that Hamas doubts Israel seriously intends to accept the Egyptian truce proposal.
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"If Israel does not agree to the cease-fire, all means are open to us," Abu Zuhri warned.
Hamas spokesmen explained yesterday that Israel's decision to condition its acceptance of a truce on Gilad Shalit's release is tantamount to rejecting the Egyptian proposal.
A Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud al-Zahar, added that Hamas would take action against Israeli communities around Gaza as part of what he termed "self-defense" if the truce were rejected. However, Zahar qualified his remarks by saying that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman will inform Hamas of Israel's position only today, and then Hamas will make a formal decision on its own position.
Meanwhile, despite the death yesterday of an Israeli woman, Shuli Katz, in a rocket attack on Moshav Yesha, Israel will make do with a limited military retaliation to avoid a major escalation in the situation during U.S. President George Bush's visit to Israel this week.
However, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Suleiman yesterday that if the rocket fire and terror attacks from Gaza do not stop, Israel will have no choice but to expand its military activity in the Strip.
Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the fatal attack, as well as for rockets fired at Ashkelon yesterday morning.
Suleiman, who is spearheading the truce talks, met with government officials in Israel yesterday to present the main points of the plan Egypt brokered with Hamas.
In response, Israeli officials presented him with an outline of the agreement as conceived by Jerusalem: In the first phase, there would be a gradual lull in the fighting in the Strip, with both sides ceasing offensive activity, while in the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces would continue its operations as usual. In the second phase, more goods would be allowed into the Strip. In the third phase, the Rafah border crossing would be opened to Palestinian traffic from the Gaza Strip into Egypt - although this point requires the agreement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who still has reservations about it and is demanding a presence there for his forces. In return, Israel demands that Shalit be transferred to the Egyptians, as an interim stage prior to the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners.
But despite its reservations, there seems to be a consensus in Israel regarding the need to agree to the truce outline Suleiman delivered yesterday. A senior official who took part in the talks said that "Israel has no legitimization for saying no, even if not all of the components are acceptable to us."
The official added that "Israel must not come across in the international community as a naysayer regarding the truce in Gaza."
Another senior Israeli official said that "the outline for a truce is close to ripening, and will be ready to be implemented within a few weeks."
A defense source added that "this is not a process that will culminate in the sides signing an agreement. De facto understandings are being formulated, but we still need clarifications from the Egyptians."
The defense establishment believes that Hamas is very interested in securing a truce, despite the rocket fire from Gaza in the past few days, but wants to do so from a position of strength, so as to be perceived as dictating the truce terms to Israel.
Suleiman told his Israeli hosts yesterday that he is unhappy about incorporating Shalit in the deal. Rather, he argued, improving the atmosphere by means of a truce would help advance Shalit's release in the future.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Barak demanded that Suleiman resume pressing Hamas on this point.
Olmert also emphasized that Israel wants a stop to arms smuggling to be a central part of any truce agreement.
He asked Suleiman to convey Israel's messages to Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian factions, and Suleiman promised to return with an answer.
Shalit's father, Noam, said yesterday that any truce must include his son's release.
"The latest escalation began with the kidnapping, and the escalation must end with an end to the kidnapping," he said.
He accepted the possibility of Gilad being transferred to Egypt until Israel and Hamas finish negotiating the release of prisoners in Israeli custody.
"it is possible to reach understandings about a temporary cease-fire with a clear timetable - securing Gilad's release within 30 to 60 days in return for Palestinian prisoners," he said.
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