BBC: Israeli/Palestinian Truce "Likely"

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-02-07 12:45pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4244493.stm

Israel-Palestinian truce 'likely'

Israeli and Palestinian leaders will sign a truce on Tuesday to end four years of fighting, reports say.
The deal will be agreed when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for talks in Egypt on Tuesday, sources say.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a mutual truce would follow the summit, the highest-level talks between the two sides since the intifada began in 2000.

An unnamed Israeli official confirmed the plans to the AP news agency.

More details soon.

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2005-02-07 01:12pm

I really hope it works out. Mahmud Abbas has taken some serious steps, that would have been easy for Arafat before him to make. I'm also glad that the U.S. looks to both sides this time, and not only to the Israelis. Oh, and as a side note, I read that both Mr. Abbas and Prime Minister Sharon will travel to Washington later during spring. I hope more productive measures has been taken before that.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-02-07 03:43pm

Now IF the Palestinian terrorists attacks stop as a result of this truce does that mean that the Palestinian authority must admit that it always had control of the Terorists in their territory and even if not before they certainly then must take responsibility for them from this point on. That's a big if.

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » 2005-02-07 03:52pm

Wow, some more progress like this and we'll almost be back to where we were at Camp David 25 years ago ....

Forgive my skepticism at this 'progress' ... it's nice to see, but we've been down this baby-steps road before and the backslide has always been hellacious.

Still, at this point, anything that builds microscopic amounts of trust at the leadership level is worth pursuing.

tharkûn · Post by **tharkûn** » 2005-02-07 04:18pm

Now IF the Palestinian terrorists attacks stop as a result of this truce does that mean that the Palestinian authority must admit that it always had control of the Terorists in their territory and even if not before they certainly then must take responsibility for them from this point on. That's a big if.

While I do think the PA under Arafat sponsored the Intifada, such a result does not mean they have always had authority over the terrorists. It is quite likely that their are fewer supporters of terrorism now that the population sees chronic unemployment as far as the eye can see (many Palestinians used to hold good jobs within Israel - that is never going to happen again anytime soon) and popular elections may give the PA more authority now that Arafat is dead than it ever had when he was alive.

Alternatively it could simply mean that Israel has killed enough terrorists that new leadership is more amendable to working with the PA instead of against it.

Frankly I figure the entire question is going to be hypothetical, I give a month at the outside before somebody goes and attacks the other side.

I think Abbas sees that the deal he can cut is only to get worse the longer he waits and the more dead each side racks up. Hopefully he has been able to impress this truth upon his people to such a degree that they give him a shot to do something about it.