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If That's How They Act in Gaza

[Ha'aretz] Ze'ev Schiff - The armed Palestinian organizations in Gaza are demonstrating once again what has become a norm among the Palestinians - that the agreements to which their leaders commit have no value. In this latest round of internal Palestinian violence, the warring parties have already decided on a cease-fire five times. Each time, within hours, they were back to killing each other and injuring bystanders in the process. If this is how they behave among themselves, why should they be any more scrupulous in abiding by agreements with outside elements such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon or Egypt? This is an important lesson that Israel must learn from the recent events in Gaza. Israel has no choice but to continue to seek agreements with the Palestinians, but it also must insist on maintaining broader margins of security. For example, by making every effort in the current situation to isolate the West Bank from Gaza and prevent Hamas from gaining the upper hand in the West Bank. For this reason, most of the security-related sections in the proposal by the American general Keith Dayton must be rejected. Granted, the Egyptians have improved their efforts to take action against the terrorists in Sinai, but if you compare Egyptian activity with the Jordanians' efforts, the Egyptians receive a low mark. The Egyptians are turning a blind eye to Hamas' smuggling of large amounts of money, mostly from Iran, into Gaza for the establishment of a Hamas army. The sense in Israel is that Egypt is playing a two-faced game in the war on terror.
2007-05-25 01:00:00
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