The travesty of cease-fire

The CNN article Rockets hit Israel after Gaza cease-fire deadline illustrates exceedingly well the chances of reaching a meaningful agreement with our neighbors:

Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rocket attacks into Israel Sunday, Israeli police and army officials said, hours after a cease-fire in Gaza was agreed upon by the Israeli government and Palestinian factions.

Well, it was expected. One of the long list of the splinter groups - PRC (Popular Resistance Committee - one of the useful and deniable tentacles of Hamas, in fact the biggest tentacle of all) has immediately declared its non-participation in the cease-fire. But PRC is only for starters:

Nabil Abu Rdaina, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said before the Sunday attacks that all Palestinian factions had agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel.

Which is clearly a lie - see the above mention of PRC. But again, it's small change compared to:

The militant group Islamic Jihad and Hamas' military wing both claimed responsibility for the attacks.

So Hamas' own military wing is defying its leaders (yeah, well, if you want to believe it)? And if you want to see hypocrisy, here it comes:

Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad told Israeli Army Radio that an investigation into who fired the rockets and violated the cease-fire will be launched.

And now to the figureheads (or head figures, whatever suits).

Abbas also organized a meeting of Palestinian factions to discuss extending the cease-fire to the West Bank, according to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Pardon me: extending what?

The meeting will be part of the beginning of "a serious, real, honest and direct negotiation between myself and [Abbas] so we could make a progress towards a full settlement between Israel and the Palestinians," Olmert added.

Yep. Where did we all hear it already? Mmm...

Meanwhile, the Israeli government agreed to withdraw troops from Gaza and cease military operations, said Miri Eisin, a government spokeswoman. "We think that there's the possibility of hope here," she said.

That's really quaint: first we had hope, now it is a possibility of hope. I wonder what is the formula for the next stage: a glimpse of a possibility of hope?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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