Israel and militant group Hamas have agreed to end months of bitter clashes with a six-month truce starting on Thursday, Palestinian officials say.
A Hamas official said he was confident all militant groups in Gaza would abide by the agreement, brokered by Egypt.
Israeli officials said they were "looking to see if this is serious".
*snip*
Palestinian and Egyptian officials say the truce is to come into effect at 0600 (0300 GMT) on Thursday. As well as a halt to all hostilities, this stage of the deal also envisages a partial reopening of Gaza's borders, they add.
So good news for the people in Gaza if it comes into effect properly, theres also some talk of relaxing the blockade into Gaza as well.
“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that the English language is as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary. “
- James Nicoll
Not impressed. Watch as a "splinter group" breaks the truce with a heavy barriage of rocket fire.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Well, if some splinter faction of Hamas eventually breaks it (as I imagine they will), wouldn't it be a justification for the IDF to jump feet first back into Gaza and start driving them out?
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” -Jean-Luc Picard
"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." -Margaret Atwood
Gee I wonder how this will work out.
Actual peace would ultimately be political suicide for Hamas.
Reminds me of a Fark.com headline from the other year;
Hamas suggests another ceasefire with Israel so that they can break it again when they're ready
Guardsman Bass wrote:Well, if some splinter faction of Hamas eventually breaks it (as I imagine they will), wouldn't it be a justification for the IDF to jump feet first back into Gaza and start driving them out?
Yeah, if the IDF wants to sacrifice a bunch of soldiers' lives for little or no gain, and in the meantime fuck Israel's PR so hard it bleeds (not that their PR could really get much worse anyway). Getting out of Gaza was one of the few intelligent things Sharon accomplished. No one in their right mind would want to go back in there. I mean, I am entirely in favor of Israel doing whatever it takes to defend itself, I just think that they're going about it pretty poorly.
"I wish I wish I hadn't killed that fish." - Homer Simpson
Huh. That's less than 10 condoms per person. Though, assuming an even split between gender, that's almost 20 condoms per penis, so I certainly hope that would suffice for the three weeks they're there. -Alferd Packer
Somehow I don't see this lasting more than a few months at the very most.
On the other hand, the Aceh business did end peacefully, so there is some room for hope.
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
