Israeli brinkmanship puts Gaza truce in peril [View All]

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is mounting a last-ditch effort to free a captured Israeli soldier by blocking an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip until Hamas agrees to release him.

Western diplomats remain skeptical Olmert's brinkmanship can produce a breakthrough on a truce in the few weeks he has left in office.

Hamas has no faith that Israel, which is about to change governments, will abide by commitments under the proposed ceasefire, mainly to keep Gaza's border crossings open, if captured soldier Gilad Shalit is freed.

Wary of taking steps it believes would bestow legitimacy on Hamas, Israel has rebuffed a proposal under which the United Nations would monitor commitments on both sides, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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