Hamas: All Gaza militant groups agree to halt rocket attacks

ANY time a country is attacked by a weaker opponent, they cannot strike back and they must take it. Oh, but of course, an exception should be made with the Brits and the IRA, right?

Egypt is not enforcing its gaza border the tunnels r operating at full capacity israels is getting squeezed by Shalit's camp, prisoners exchange is eminent, this is a rare Hamas moment they will rearm restaff and b ready to act when Irans signal is given

My brother's friend died in a suicide bomber attack. Show some respects to the victims at least.

Excuse me but this is a pretty simplistic view. Maybe a factor in what you call the change of attitude from israeli jews could be the constant refusal of their mere existence by their neigbors. And the constant promise of its destruction. You say they welcomed the arabs and the opposite was true to. Unfortunately the arabs of mandatory palestine have let themselves being manipulated to serve the interests of competing arab nationalisms and the corruption of their own leaders.

But will that stop Israel killing Palestinians? It never has in the past

All, There is no such thing as a 'tacit' ceasefire. Hamas claims that it will stop all rocket attacks from all factions in Gaza. I'll believe it when I see it. Israel has not agreed to lift the siege in return. In fact, Hamas is making this claim unilaterally. As for Hamas re-armament, there was a UN SCR forbidding other countries from providing arms to Hamas. However, a few rockets are getting through. Consequently, Israel has no reason to lift the siege. The siege of Gaza can only be lifted when Hamas carries out the Rafah agreement. They haven't. The siege continues. And the world community has found new things to condemn Israel for. No one is pushing negotiations with Hamas or recognition of Hamas. A quiet win for Israel.

It is the ultimate of ironies that those beliefs, those who's souls are no different from, and dedicated to the same racism that forced Jews to flee their homes 100 years ago have come to rule Israel today? An essential migration is that of the grandchildren of those Russian Jews who lacked the guts and vision of the liberal Russian Jews who actually achieved Israel over 60 years ago. This led to Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu Party. A party composed of the descendants of those who refused to help crate Israel. A party dedicated to opposing EVERYTHING that those who created Israel held essential. The liberals - yes, socialists - who created Israel in toil and blood over 70 years ago had no faith in racial superiority. They knew that necessity ruled what needed to be done. They welcomed Arabs who wanted to create a Palestinians state, if the wanted it to be a 'Jewish state' as well. Now, the children of those who refused to help build Israel dominate its politics.

The Welsh have chosen not to leave the UK, so far. Your comment is irrelevant. How about yourself? How is this YOUR business? Being that you live in NYC when are you walking away from your property to return to your ancestral homeland, unless you are native Indian of course. What Welshman said was absolutely correct, they had stopped firing rockets and cast lead was planned many months before. Face it you can't fool anyone anymore. Israel needs war, in peace you have to have set borders, no more land theft. Even in Canada we are settling land claims with the natives, it is the civilized thing to do.

So, Hamas made an agreement with Carter,so did the Mufti of Jerusalem make an agreement with Hitler. Did any Palestinian leader make an agreement with Israel? and what was in it? Israel made an agreement with me, where I agreed to transfer all the west bank territory to Israel and encourage the arabs there to emigrate to Venezuela

Peace? with hamas? where you being in the last 20 years? how can Israel beilive in peace with a partie that openly supports her destruction since day 1?

Israel broke the cease fire in November? Most accounts have it that between 70 and 120 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel from Gaza between May 15 and November 5 2008. David Ignatius said 110 in a Washington Post column 8 weeks ago. November 6 is when Israel finally responded to the lack of cease fire, and shot up a bunch of yahoos building a military tunnel near the fence. I am surprised that someone like you, who tries to present himself as expert in all things could be so careless with your words.

If you support free Gaza, why don't you fight for a free Wales? Bud, mind your OWN business...

"Palestinians continued firing rockets into Israel coordinated by Hamas. Even if Hamas did not fire them themselves, they, being the government in Gaza, are responsible for them." So on this precendent of yours Palestinians are allowed to kill 10 settler homes for every Gazan home destroyed because Israel didn't/hasn't interevened and because you've said it's ok? The whole point of this argument is that it is flawed on moral grounds, regardless of religion or race, unless, of course, you have the military upper hand....Isn't that the case?

After Israel's Nov. 4, 2008 bombing of a new, 250-meter long tunnel extending into Israeli territory, and in which 7 Hamas soldiers died, Hamas responded with six weeks of some 200 missiles before admitting that they were done with the official truce. They then *increased* the missiles and the number of civilian targets for another week, firing over 100 missiles, until Israel finally did what it should have done long before: fight back. Do you call Hamas' reaction to the bombing of their tunnel a "proportional" response? And don't forget, the tunnel was itself a clear violation of the truce. So really, who broke the truce in 2008? Stop excusing Palestinian violence and violations.

It's folks like you that encourage the Palestinians to keep up with the terror, as they have no responsibility for their actions and can react as they please to any and all attempts by Israel to defend itself. Hamas is responsible for Gaza, period. I think they are simply playing good-cop/bad-cop, but I can forgive you for being naive. Nevertheless, you'll agree that if a Kahanist group fired missiles at Palestinian communities, you'd hold Israel fully responsible, and understand Palestinian reprisals (especially if just once they'd aim for Israeli *military* targets). Another point is that what gets called a "lull" in the rockets is still unacceptable for the Jews who have to suffer living in bomb shelters and wondering what will happen during the day because of the weekly or even monthly rocket. Try to imagine telling your children that from now on, once a month a rocket will land somewhere in your city, and it could be day or night. One last point to follow...

I am confused with your statements. Are you spliting hairs? You better stick with aeronautial stuff! It's very simple: You shoot,I shoot. Period!

You're always comparing October 2008 to October 2009 in support of your assertion that Cast Lead was ineffective. How disingenuous can you be, and how stupid do you think we are? Why don't you compare the first 8 months of 2008 to the first 8 months of 2009? Are you afraid it will completely discredit your assertion regarding the effectiveness of Cast Lead? One thing is for certain. Cast Lead was supremely effective at reducing (nearly stopping) the rockets from Gaza. It was, indeed, more effective than ANYONE ever imagined it would be. Sorry to disappoint you.

That is exactly right. Hamas only quiets down the factions when it has a "secret" operation in the works and it fears any retaliation from Israel may expose it. With Iran's threat against Tel Aviv fresh on the lips of the Ayatollah I suspect that Hamas has a major part in the coming war games. The recent test of Hamas' missile and the siezed arms shipment to Hezbollah show that neither is preparing for peace or pal nationhood. Iran knows it is guilty of seeking a nuke, Israel knows it, and most of the west knows it. That so, evidence of their motive cannot remain "secret" for long.

That Cast Lead did the trick. Next time, hit 'em harder. Way to go, Israel!

but that doesn't change the fact that Hamas is scared s---less. Let's hope they'll be good little boys until the whole Iranian-Hezbollah thing is over.

The authority of the palestinians and the borders and their crossings are part of the Oslo Agreements. When hamas took over in Gaza they refuted these agreements, as well as anynegotiations. Why would Israel be bound by agreements that the other side does not respect? The truce was explicitely denied by hamas as you seem to have forgotten.

There is something in small writing. I dont believe a word and neither does Isreal.

People who yell and cry of Israel's blockade can't see or won't even see that Egypt also has a Gaza border. Or they cry the hollow chant that if Egypt opens its Gaza border it would violate the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. What a lame and horrid excuse. Meanwhile Egypt continues to let weapons be smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. Egypt keeps the people of Gaza shut out and even pushed back the many who crossed into Egypt when Israel finally responded in force to years of rockets from Gaza. Israel let in hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab nations and Egypt still can't even let in Arabs from Gaza into their giant country when they needed it most. Egypt's total disregard for the lives of those it claims to support is disgusting. But of course it is so much more easy and traditional to blame Israel.

with 125 rockets and 68 mortar attacks. And all because Israel closed off an abduction tunnel.

That's funy, i thought Hamas and Israel has a semi-quasi peace deal which Israel broke and what followed cast lead? Israel wanted that war and blamed the rockets for it. Israel bombed 20 years worth of development to stop Gaza becoming and independent state. This had nothing to do with the rockets but a perpetual state of war simply to reign control over an area Israel sees to keep busy with rebuilding itself rather than letting Gazans focus on getting their own state which is obviously against ISraeli interests. Israel bombed Gaza to oppress them. Period.

These pages of Haaretz have carried stories about Hamas achieving agreements with all the factions to stop the rockets at least six or seven times in the last three years. Statements alone mean nothing, despite the gullibility of the koombaya denizens of the Left. The notion that a cessation of rocket fire would suddenly make Hamas a credible partner for peace with Israel is childish.

rears it,s ugly head. What will Israel do now. I am certaim they will think of something to get war back on track.

The situation now is the situation before Israel broke the Cease Fire in early November 2008. Hamas was then enforcing a cease fire and there was only 1 rocket (fired by Islamic Jiahd) in October 2008. October 2009 saw two attacks. I see the spin, but I don't see where Hamas was doing anything different in October 2008 and in the last month. What is going on is that as in November 2008, Israel is spinning up the need for another war with Hamas and breaking the tacit cease fire.

Palestinians continued firing rockets into Israel coordinated by Hamas. Even if Hamas did not fire them themselves, they, being the government in Gaza, are responsible for them.

"Palestinians" demand a state but where is the commitment by Fatah and Hamas to build infrastructure to support a society with modern conveniences? Plumbing? Running water? Sewage? Instead they buy weapons and ammunition. Hamas and other terrorists agree to stop firing rockets at Israel but fire another rocket at Israel. Anybody see a contradiction there? Just like Hezbollah they are biding their time, replenishing their war making capability until they feel confident again. Then we shall see yet another flurry of rockets from Gaza aimed at Israel. The peaceful "Palestinian" soldiers will hide behind women and children and among schools, hospitals and apartment buildings. What will happen then?

Hamas is only halting the firing of rockets, but says nothing about building and transporting and storing them. Hamas should be forced to destory all rockets to avoid another invasion. Nothing less will be accepted. Sound to me like hamas has a new director of PR and he wants to show off.

Hamas is a freely and democratically elected Palestinian political party. It derives its legitimacy from the Palestinian people. It has the legal right to resist the Israeli jailers from the right of people everywhere to resist an occupation force that blockades their shores. Hamas is not a threat to America and is not America?s enemy. As an American I have no quarrel with them. BTW, Meshal was invited to address the UK parliament. In addition many other countries recognize Hamas.

Hamas was willing to not fire rockets months ago if Israel was willing to lift the blockade as part of the agreement it made with Carter. Israel didn't follow through. It didn't want to renegotiate a true, because it wanted to attack Gaza and was preparing to do so for months. You can say Israel's Government is partially why the southern residents of Israel were attacked just as Hamas was partially responsibly for Gazans being attacked. Hamas was blasted politically for trying to negotiate using rockets and fell into Barak's trap. Mubarak warned them of the trap. They didn't listen.

The Hamas movement, in order to become politically viable as a popular alternative to Fatah, has to offer the prospect of regularity to the lives of Palestinians. Bomb throwing, by itself, is not a way to prove leadership. It gets cheers, but not lasting votes. If Fatah fades away, there is an opening for Hamas, but Hamas has to be willing to grow up.

This won't stop the IDF from killing anything in line of sight from the border or shelling fishermen from off the coast. And when Israel is again ready to teach another lesson (just after any exchange for Shalit), there will be plenty of still standing schools and hospitals as ready targets, just like during Cast lead. Cast Lead II is already being planned, including the pretext.

NO doubt leftist loonies will laud Hamas for the terrible concession that they've had to make. Palestinians will still continue to fire missiles into Israel. Israel will have to react and then Hamas will declare that the "hudna" is over. The leftist loonies will of course blame Israel.

Hamas can't take any more reprisals on the part of Israel. Goldstone or no Goldstone, Israel obviously did the right thing.

"Hamas: All Gaza millitant groups agree to halt rocket attacks"

If this is above board, if other forms of violence are "stayed" and if Hamas doesn't use a period of quiet so simply arm itself with more rockets, useful only to terrorize Israeli civilians, Gazans will find that Israelies will let them live in peace. Let live and live.

With Fattah on the verge of political suicide Hamas siezes the moment to push for acceptance in the world as leaders of Palestine. This may be a breakthrough from Obama's point of view but whether the American people will support any move towards legitimization of Hamas is doubtful. We'll see what the right wing does with this issue--probably make mincemeat out of any move Obama makes in this direction.

? this might be an opening for President Obama of US to use his diplomatic instincts that usually don't work (as in demand for settlement freeze to attract Abbas or dithering over Iran)