Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Elder of ZiyonUnderstanding Regarding Ceasefire in Gaza StripFairly generic as far as I can see. One immediate issue, though, is that it sounds like it is requiring Israel to no longer enforce the buffer zone - the 300-to-1000 meters that Israel requires to remain clear so that there won't be any attempted explosives along the fence or other attempts to infiltrate Israel.
1. a. Israel shall stop all hostilities on the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals.
b. All Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks, and attacks along the border
c. Opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents free movement, and targeting residents in border areas and procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.
d. Other matters as maybe requested shall be addressed.
2. Implementation Mechanism:
a. Setting up of the zero hour for the Ceasefire Understanding to enter into effect.
b. Egypt shall receive assurances from each party that the party commit to what was agreed upon.
c. Each party shall commit itself not to perform any acts that would breach this understanding. In case of any observations, Egypt – as the sponsor of this understanding – shall be informed to follow up.
I can see that being a problem, and possibly it will be interpreted differently by each side.
Not that I am optimistic that this will last the night anyway - there are enough nutty jihadist groups that will be happy to lob a few rockets to prove their manhood.
UPDATE: So far, 23 minutes after the "cease-fire" was to go into effect, there have been rockets towards Hof Ashkelon, Beer Sheva, Shaar HaNegav and Eshkol. It appears that this is the world's definition of a cease fire - only Israel can break one.
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