Middle East Accepts New Ceasefire Plan

IOL ^ | 5-31-2004

[blam]

Middle East accepts new ceasefire plan

May 31 2004 at 03:56PM

The Israelis and Palestinians have accepted an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire, a resumption of peace talks and a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Korei, the Egyptian news agency Mena reported on Monday.

The plan, for which no timeframe has been set, falls within the framework of Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Egypt's agreement to help maintain security in the territory afterwards, Mena said.

It was put to Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last week by the head of Egypt's intelligence services, General Omar Suleiman, at the request of President Hosni Mubarak, the agency said.

Arafat's principal adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina, confirmed the existence of Egyptian "proposals" but said their implementation was dependent upon an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

There was no comment from Israel.

The plan has, however, been "welcomed" by Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and "other capitals", which promised to help equip Palestinian forces to be able to secure Gaza following a withdrawal, Mena added.

It said Sharon had "agreed to stop violence, bombings and assassinations, on condition that the Palestinians remain committed" to an end to hostilities.

In a gesture of goodwill, he has also agreed to "meet Ahmed Korei to discuss the proposals".

Arafat had "approved the Egyptian plan and said he was ready to start working immediately towards a ceasefire", according to Mena.

He has asked Suleiman "to get Israel to agree to end its attacks and to give him time to consult with the different Palestinian factions in order to secure their agreement," it said.

If the different factions were to agree, they could be invited to Cairo to finalise the "accord which seeks to bring an end to all illegitimate violence and to secure the lasting commitment of all parties" for peace.

[yonif]

We'll see about Israeli approval. Of course the Arabs will support this as it gives them time to get stronger. Just like the last Hudna or "cease-fire" which during it over 40 Israelis were murdered.

[Semper Paratus]

This should work out as well as the one we HAD with Al-Sadr.

[Viking2002]

I give this one about 20 minutes.

[E Rocc]

I dunno. This is the first time in awhile Egypt has offered to take any responsibility for security in the Gaza strip. If they're on the up and up, this will make it a lot tougher to sneak weapons into Gaza. They conducted themselves well during the Sinai withdrawl, and have behaved reasonably well since.

If one is opposed to any Israeli withdrawl from Gaza for religious/nationalistic reasons, as many here are, one will certainly oppose this deal. But there's no objective reason to believe it won't work.

-Eric

[lonevoice]

So, the deal is, Sharon has to agree to stop all hostilities in exchange for Palestinians agreeing to be committed to stop their hostilities? Something's wrong with this picture.

[El Gato]

But there's no objective reason to believe it won't work.

Of course there is, it's with the Palestinian "leadership" which has a long history of breaking it's commitments. Just going by the history, chances are they'll break this one too.

[yonif]

Egypt was already supposed to take responsibility for the border with Gaza when it signed that "peace" treaty. It has not, instead using its power to harbor terrorists and their smuggling operations. Gaza as it is now is 98% landwise in the hands of the Arabs. Giving them an extra 2% will do nothing, but spur more terror operations.