Israeli brinkmanship puts Gaza truce in peril

[bemildred]

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.

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE51E0VP20090215?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=reutersEdge&rpc=401

[henank]

1. Israeli brinkmanship???

Are they serious? And Hamas is not playing brinkmanship with the constant violations of the ceasefire? With its ridiculous demands for 1000 terrorists for one lowly sergeant? Including the most bloodthirsty of murderers?

THAT is NOT brinkmanship?

Actually, on second thoughts it's not brinkmanship at all. It is just Hamas's idea of peace talks.

[bemildred]

3. Not my headline.

Though I've been thinking that the not-negotiations seem stalled, so I was looking for a story that wrote that up.

There is a headline up in LBN that says the Feds "mount evidence" in the salmonella "probe", which gave me visions of investigators climbing up onto a pile of evidence and humping away at it.

[Duckhunter935]

2. As we all know only one side is ever at fault .

Hamas can never do wrong, they are innocent civilians, woman and children.

[bemildred]

4. Well, it seems to be the case that they are about half children.

And one expects that around half the remainder are women, or we would not have all those children. So yes, most of them are women and children, one could say.

[bemildred]

5. Livni, Barak, Olmert working on proposal for Shalit deal, Gaza truce

The Troika of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni decided on Sunday to formulate a proposal for a deal to release abducted Israel Defense Forces Gilad Shalit and secure a truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

When it is formulated, the proposal will be brought before the cabinet for a vote, possibly as early as Wednesday.

The Troika has agreed to hold an additional meeting before the cabinet vote. During the meeting Olmert said Israel will not agree to any truce deal and won't open the border crossing with Gaza before Gilad Shalit is released.

A source in the Prime Minister's bureau said on Saturday that Olmert will ask for Likud Head Benjamin Netanyahu's opinion in light of last Tuesday's election results.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064007.html

[bemildred]

6. ANALYSIS / Olmert denial of Hamas talks is almost comical

There was something almost comical about outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement on the negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit.

The announcement, which was released as a clarification in response to speculation, said that "Israel is not negotiating with Hamas and will not reach any understandings with Hamas."

So apparently there's another explanation for the frequent visits by Amos Gilad, the defense establishment's envoy, to Cairo. He just digs the pyramids. During Olmert's three-year term, his bureau his challenged reality more than once in its announcements, with each defiance appearing to set a small, new record.

After all, Israel has been engaged, though Egyptian mediation, in talks with Hamas for the past several years. It would be extremely difficult to agree on an extended cease-fire in the Gaza Strip without reaching an understanding with Hamas.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064166.html

[azurnoir]

7. The brinkmanship it would seem is

demanding the exact opposite of Hamas, who wanted the cease fire and Gilad Shalits release to be separate issues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7890294.stm

Albeit I found this line almost funny

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.

As if mounting a major military campaign reputedly aimed at Hamas did not already give Hamas some form of legitimacy or recognition. Also didn't Israel demand international observers at crossing points, at least until Hamas did too? Sort of reminds of some other demands/ negotiations that were going on between 2 other countries about 6 years ago

[bemildred]

8. That phrase annoyed me too, like it was theirs to grant or withhold. nt