(Jerusalem Report) Ehud Ya'ari - A few hours after the killing of Salah Shehadeh, the commander of the military wing of Hamas, in Gaza on July 23, the claims started: Hamas, the argument went, had been on the verge of joining Fatah in a unilateral, unconditional cease-fire declaration, and only Israel, in its folly, and Sharon, in his profound nefariousness, prevented this miracle from happening. It should be clear now even to those who so eagerly bought into the "cease-fire that was missed" story - it never had a chance. Hamas was not about to accept, before Shehadeh's elimination, a formula that was several times more far-reaching than that which it rejected afterward.
2002-08-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive