Free Republic

The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas does not call for stopping the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip, a top Hamas leader announced Saturday. Ezat Risheq, member of the Hamas "political bureau," said that reports claiming that the agreement calls for an end to the smuggling of weapons were untrue. Risheq was commenting on reports that claimed that special US army units would be deployed along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to stop the flow of weapons to Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. The Hamas official claimed that Israel was behind the reports...

Gaza truce agreed, Hamas says, to take effect in hours By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller | Reuters – 30 mins ago GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza conflict will go into effect later on Tuesday, a Hamas official said. There was no immediate Israeli comment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier he was open to a long-term deal to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on his country. "An agreement for calm has been reached. It will be declared at 9 o'clock (1900 GMT) and go into effect at midnight (2200 GMT)," Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters...

I had a bad night last night, one filled with dreams and memories of my time in combat – six months of front line duty with the 15th Infantry Regiment, four of them as a scout for which I foolishly volunteered. Tomorrow is the 10th of June. Sixty years ago, on the 10th, I was on a daytime patrol. I never enjoyed those, you always got shot at by someone and if you have once heard a bullet go past your head from a sniper, you would just as soon not have another one. Anyway, after returning safely, I was...

Attention "Anyone But Obama" (ABO) FReepers! If you go to the thread at the link you will will see that JimRob has "declared a truce" and hundreds of ABO FReepers are now vigorously defending their belief, which I share, that the ineligible Marxist Manchurian MUST BE DEFEATED to preserve the Republic...without fear of "the ZOT"! Please consider a DONATION not just to fund renewal of expression and amplification of your ABO views, but let's over-achieve this FReepathon to get JR his new equipment! IMO, Free Republic and FReepers could be vital in swing states in rallying just enough conservatives to...

A couple of stories surfaced recently that should be of concern to voters that are analyzing how a Romney presidency would differ from the current administration. President Obama has a track record that can be examined to get a grasp of his agenda, but Governor Romney needs to further explain his positions on two key areas that many voters would expect to see a divergence with our present leader. The reports bring in to question whether or not Romney would be any different from the administrations over the past 12 years when it comes to dumping billions of taxpayer dollars...

My FRiends, we might as well face the reality that we the combined pro-life conservative movement and tea party coalition have lost this round (the presidential election) in the larger battle to reclaim our constitution and our inalienable rights. Rove, Romney and the GOP-e have successfully destroyed and driven off each and every pro-life conservative tea party candidate from the race and all have surrendered to the Romney camp. It is no secret that Romney is not one of us. There is absolutely no doubt that he has never accomplished a single conservative thing in his entire political career (one...

Daniels Closer to 2012 Bid, But Has He Overcome Abortion Truce? Indianapolis, IN -- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels appears closer than ever to indicating he will seek the Republican nomination for president, but, for pro-life voters, one key question remains about his talk of an abortion truce. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/13/daniels-closer-to-2012-bid-but-has-he-overcome-abortion-truce/

Rick Santorum Chides Daniels on Abortion-Social Issues Truce Washington, DC -- In an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, potential Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum slammed Mitch Daniels, also a potential GOP hopeful, on his abortion-social issues truce. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/02/04/rick-santorum-chides-daniels-on-abortion-social-issues-truce/

Somalia's president marked the beginning of Ramadan Saturday by calling for a truce with Islamic militants and talks to end the country's bloodshed. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told VOA Saturday he believes peace and stability are attainable through dialogue, and he called on militants to lay down their weapons. Somalia's fragile transitional government is engaged in a fierce battle to regain large parts of the country from Islamist militants led by the al-Shabab group. In the capital of Mogadishu, heavy fighting between government forces and insurgents has killed at least 100 people since Thursday, many of them civilians. Residents...

Hamas officials in Cairo have proposed a year-long truce with Israel and an opening of the crossings into the Gaza Strip, in the latest round of diplomatic meetings to build on a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas official Ayman Taha told reporters in Cairo on Sunday that his delegation was briefed by the Egyptians on an Israeli proposal for a year-and-a-half long truce with only partial opening of the border, which they rejected. Instead, Taha says the group made a counter offer of a year with open borders, which they now must discuss with their leadership in Damascus.

The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip lashed out at rival militants after two Qassam rockets were fired at southern Israel yesterday, causing no injuries but further straining the shaky truce between Israel and Hamas that went into effect last Thursday morning. In view of the continued rocket fire, Israel will keep the crossings into the Gaza Strip closed today, for the third straight day. The Fatah-affiliated group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for yesterday's rocket fire and demanded that the cease-fire be extended into the West Bank. In a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency Maan, Hamas...

Ceasefire seems shakier than ever as Palestinians launch three Qassam rockets from Gaza. House damaged in Sderot, two women suffer from shock. Olmert: This is a blatant violation of ceasefire. Islamic Jihad vowed reprisal earlier for IDF operation in West Bank Shmulik Hadad Published: 06.24.08, 15:53 / Israel News Ceasefire shattered? Residents of Israel's south were rattled to hear the 'Color Red' rocket alert sirens blare throughout their towns twice on Tuesday afternoon as Palestinian terror groups launched three Qassam rockets from Gaza. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. One of the rockers landed in the backyard of...

Joint IDF, Shin Bet operation to arrest senior commander from Jenin ends with his death. Army says imminent terror attack thwarted. Though ceasefire limited to Gaza, Islamic Jihad has warned attacks on its people in West Bank would bring Qassam reprisals A senior commander of the Islamic Jihad and an additional gunman belonging to the group were killed in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the West Bank city of Nablus. The two were killed in an exchange of fire with IDF and Shin Bet forces who had entered the city to arrest several wanted Palestinians. Troops belonging to...

• Hamas regards the temporary cease-fire as a tahdiya and not a hudna. A tahdiya – “a period of calm” – is used by Hamas to describe a simple cease-fire. A hudna implies recognition of the other party’s actual existence, without acknowledging its legitimacy.

While media attention has been focused on the Palestinian track where no progress has been made and no real pressure applied, serious work has been going on with Syria. You will recall that the Iraq Study Group under Baker recommended in November ’06, that the US should engage Syria and Iran about Iraq without preconditions. While Bash and Rice rejected the recommendations publicly, they went about following them. The Annapolis Conference held one year later was part of that new dialogue. Syria was induced to attend because, there was added to the agenda, under the title “Comprehensive Peace”, the Syrian...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Gaza's Hamas rulers on Tuesday said they have reached a long-awaited cease-fire with Israel meant to end months of Palestinian assaults on Israeli border towns and bruising Israeli retaliation. The announcement came shortly after Egypt, which has been trying to broker the truce for months, said the cease-fire would go into effect on Thursday. Israel refused to confirm a deal, but said a "new reality" would take hold if Palestinian attacks end. In a last-minute jolt, Israeli aircraft attacked three targets in the southern Gaza Strip. One of the airstrikes destroyed a car, killing...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli leaders decided Wednesday against mounting a major attack on militants in the Gaza Strip, saying they would give Egypt more time to broker a truce with the territory's Hamas rulers. But with bloodshed on both sides, including the death of a 6-year-old Gaza girl, the government said it would push ahead with preparations for a possible invasion and keep attacking Palestinian militants to try to stop daily rocket and mortar barrages on southern Israel. Israeli aircraft fired a missile at militants in northern Gaza, but it hit a house instead, killing 6-year-old Hadeel al-Smari in the...

Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, has said their organization would be willing to offer Israel a 10-year truce if Israel were to remove itself from the lands it seized during the 1967 Middle East War. Mashaal has said he made the offer on Saturday while speaking with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and while the Hamas leader hinted that a Palestinian state would be limited to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem there was no outright declaration that they would recognize Israel. During Carter’s talk with Mashaal the Hamas leader said his organization would...

(Too short to excerpt) NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday threatened to end the ceasefire of his feared Mahdi Army militia which he announced last August. "The Jaish al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army) is hand in hand with the Iraqi people to achieve security, stability and liberation. If it is of interest to lift the ceasefire to achieve the aims and goals, it will be announced in a separate statement," Sadr said in a communique released by his office.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Officials in Iran confirmed for the first time Saturday that the country played an important role in brokering a recent truce between the Iraqi government and anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.Iran's Shiite government helped end the clashes between Iraqi government troops and al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia for the sake of Shiite unity, said a senior Iranian official who deals with Iraq."It is in Iran's best interests to see unity among Shiite factions," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki heads a Shiite-dominated government in...