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Last update - 14:35 18/01/2009
A long-term deal on Gaza is needed
By Haaretz Editorial
Tags: IDF, hamas, gaza, israel news

The growing international pressure amid the serious harm to innocent civilians and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has moved the center of gravity from the battlefield in the south to the diplomatic arena. Due to Israel's opposition to any deal with Hamas, and, conversely, due to the organization's refusal to surrender unconditionally, the government has no option but to move for a unilateral cease-fire.



Nonetheless, it was reported on Saturday that the withdrawal of Israeli troops will be put off until the cessation of rocket fire. Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, was quick to announce that his organization will not hold fire until its demands are met, namely the lifting of the siege on Gaza. Israel, for its part, ostensibly will not open the Rafah crossing without a deal for the return of Gilad Shalit.

In the absence of an Egyptian agreement on operating the Rafah crossing and dealing with the smuggling of arms via underground tunnels, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was dispatched to Washington to buttress the unilateral cease-fire with a memorandum of understanding with the United States. She came to an agreement with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice under which the United States and NATO will participate in efforts to obstruct weapons smuggling from Iran to the Strip via the Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and East Africa. The U.S. also pledged to help locate and destroy the tunnels underneath the Egyptian border.

Despite the importance of the memorandum of understanding with the United States, the Achilles' heel remains the seam separating Egypt and Gaza. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit announced last night that Cairo is not bound by the agreement between Israel and the United States. Egypt consistently refuses to station foreign forces on its territory, and is wary of any hint that Israel would try to shirk its responsibility for the welfare of Gaza's residents and make them an Egyptian problem. Egypt worries that a greater linkage to Gaza will bolster the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas' patron. Israel must assuage Egypt's concerns and urgently tend to the two countries' tense relations.

A cease-fire, albeit a unilateral one, is a necessary condition, though it is certainly insufficient for a stable, long-term arrangement in Gaza. It would behoove the government not to flinch from its decision to end Operation Cast Lead immediately and act to change relations with the Palestinians. After the hard blows Israel has inflicted, the time has come to aid the Palestinian population in both the West Bank and Gaza, and to work toward an agreement with the moderate leadership.

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