MIDDLE EAST: Israeli spokesman says military operations in Gaza could be "in the final act"

Record ID: 773491

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israeli spokesman says military operations in Gaza could be "in the final act"
  • Date: 17th January 2009
  • Summary: ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER, ISRAEL (JANUARY 16, 2009) (REUTERS) ZOOM OUT: SMOKE RISING IN DISTANCE OVER GAZA AND ISRAELI SOLDIER AT BORDER NEAR MILITARY VEHICLE ISRAELI ARMOURED VEHICLE DRIVING ON ROAD VARIOUS OF MILITARY VEHICLES ON ROAD NEAR BORDER VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN VILLAGE AS SEEN FROM BORDER (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA3G7OOE3QZUSYH64GPA8Y3HELG
  • Story Text: Israeli government suggests efforts in Washington and Cairo to broker a truce could bring swift decisions by the security cabinet.
    Israel said its Gaza offensive could be "in the final act"
    on Friday and sent envoys to discuss truce terms after Hamas made a ceasefire offer to end three weeks of fighting that has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians.
    Such decisions could be made on Friday or Saturday (January 17), Israeli officials said.
    "Diplomacy is in high gear at the moment. I'm hopeful we are entering the final act, and that we are close to a sustained durable quiet in the south," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.
    Egypt is mediating between Israel and Iranian-backed Hamas, which is shunned by Israel and its Western allies for its refusal to abandon an objective of destroying the Jewish state by force and establishing an Islamist state in all of what was Palestine before the creation of Israel in 1948.
    Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli official, was heading to Cairo again on Friday.
    Hamas and diplomatic sources told Reuters on Thursday (January 15) that Hamas had offered a one-year, renewable truce on condition that all Israeli forces withdrew within a week and that all the border crossings with Israel and Egypt would be opened.
    Hamas rocket fire has been more limited than before. It was far from clear if that was significant but the end of rocket fire was Israel's main demand in launching its offensive on Dec. 27.

    "When quiet is achieved, when that durable ceasefire is achieved - what we seek, it will be based in part upon Hamas leadership understanding that it's simply not in their interest to shoot rockets into Israel trying to kill our civilians, and I think they understand that better today than they did a week ago," Regev added.
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon met Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who told reporters afterwards he had a lengthy discussion with Ban about the terms of the ceasefire.

    "I said that the ceasefire must include not merely the cessation of rocketing, complete cessation of rocketing of Israel's cities, but it must also have an effective barrier for the re-arming, for the future re-armament of Hamas, otherwise we can make a repeat of the mistake of having a false ceasefire, the kind Hamas used in the previous year to arm itself with rockets that reached deeper into Israel and put a million Israelis under rocket fire," he said.
    Ban was expected to meet with Palestinian leaders on the West Bank later in the afternoon.
    Diplomats have spoken with growing confidence that some kind of ceasefire will be arranged in the coming days and suggested that Israel had been making a last push against its Islamist enemies before a deal was brokered -- possibly in time for the inauguration of the new U.S. president Barack Obama on Tuesday (January 20).
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