I think some of you miss the point entirely. This really is a good thing. Why? For the moment, however brief, Jewish lives will not be lost. Arab lives will not be lost. Abbas gets an opportunity to prove he is different.
Do I trust Abbas? No. Not at all. Do I trust Palestinian intentions? No. Not at all. Aside from the prisoner release (which is premature at best and stupidity at worst) Israel gave up nothing. Now the onus is on Abbas.
If, as I expect, this is only a brief respite, fine. People don't die for a little while. That's good. So long as the IDF is alert and ready and strong we lose nothing. Meanwhile the illusion of peace will help strengthen our economy.
If I am wrong and this really is meaningful, which I certainly hope and pray, then so much the better.
Hamas? Hizbullah? Islamic Jihad? Either Abbas will show he is a leader and stop all violence or he won't. Either he will take on these terror groups when the time comes or he won't. Israeli actions will be predicated on his actions.
In the meanwhile if no rockets fall on Sderot, if no mad suicide bombers blow up innocent people, if snipers don't shoot at Israeli civillians, these are all good things.
You may have a point. But there seem to have been too many "cease fires" over the years that stick like butter on a Teflon skillet. I suppose I've become jaded and cynical about the whole thing.
I think the fact this was on the official Palestinian TV station this friday decries your point: Our willingness to return to the 1967 borders does not mean that we have given up on the land of Palestine. No! We ask you: Do we have the right to the 1967 borders? We have the right. Therefore, we shall realize this right with any mean it takes. We might be able to use diplomacy in order to return to the 1967 borders, but we shall not be able to use diplomacy in order to return to the 1948 borders. No one on this earth recognizes [out right to] the 1948 borders [before Israel’s existence]. Therefore, we shall return to the 1967 borders, but it does not mean that we have given up on Jerusalem and Haifa, Jaffa, Lod, Ramla, Natanyah [Al-Zuhour] and Tel Aviv [Tel Al-Rabia]. Never.
They are plainly saying the diplomacy is just a ruse, and once they gain all they can by diplomacy, Israel will be destroyed by war. They land that was bought by the sacrifice of your Jewish ancestors is all too quickly thrown at the feet of your Historical killers for nothing but lies, damned lies and video tape. I also bet that mortars will land on Jewish homes within a week. Their lies, for Fifty Years have been used to fool you. Once fooled shame on them, 157,456 times fooled, shame on you.
Abbas gets an opportunity to prove he is different.
This is the exact same Abbas that helped set up the Munich Olympics Massacare, the Same Abbas that has been matsterminding terrorist attacks for decades. I think he has had plenty of time to prove how different he is. I think Israel should drop a 2000 pound bomb on his arse and delcare war, you guys have battered wife syndrome big time.
The cease fire is a good thing, but it's not an end in itself. There'll never be a long term solution unless the incitement ends and the terrorists are disarmed, and thus far there's little or no progress on either of those objectives.