This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/world/middleeast/israels-security-cabinet-accepts-egyptian-cease-fire-proposal.html

The article has changed 19 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
Israel’s Security Cabinet Accepts Egyptian Cease-Fire Proposal Israel’s Security Cabinet Accepts Egyptian Cease-Fire Proposal
(about 1 hour later)
JERUSALEM — Israel accepted Egypt’s proposal for a cessation of hostilities with Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, but a fresh barrage of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel has left the fate of the cease-fire unclear. JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday accepted Egypt’s proposal for a cessation of hostilities with Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, but barrages of rockets from Gaza continued to fly into Israel several hours later.
The Israeli announcement came via text message and without comment after Israel’s top ministers, known as its security cabinet, met early Tuesday. “We agreed to the Egyptian proposal in order to give the opportunity to deal with demilitarization of the strip from missiles, rockets and tunnels through diplomatic means,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said around noon, after a meeting with the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “But if Hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, as it looks now, Israel will have all the international legitimacy in order to achieve the desired quiet.”
“In accordance with the government directives, the I.D.F. now holds fire,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said in a statement nearly two hours after the announcement, using the abbreviation for the Israel Defense Forces. “We remain alert and preserve high preparedness levels, both defensive and offensive. If the Hamas terror organization will fire at Israel, we shall respond.” Leaders of Hamas have not officially responded to Israel’s acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, which would halt the aerial battle that began on July 7 and calls for Israeli and Palestinian delegations to come to Cairo within 48 hours to negotiate further terms. But Israel counted at least 22 rockets from Gaza into southern communities between 9 a.m., when the cease-fire was to take effect, and noon, one of which hit a home in the city of Ashdod, causing damage but no injuries. Sirens signaling incoming rockets continued to sound in central and northern Israel as well.
More than two hours after Israel’s announcement, a fresh barrage of rockets flew from Gaza into southern Israel; one hit a home in the city of Ashdod, causing damage but no injuries, according to a military statement. From 9 a.m. to noon, Israel counted 22 rockets from Gaza, four of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Cairo-based leader of Hamas, said in a message posted on Twitter around the time the rockets were flying that the organization was still “consulting” and had “not issued an official position on the Egyptian initiative.”
Hamas leaders in Gaza were not answering their mobile phones on Tuesday in the hour after Israel’s announcement. Earlier on Tuesday morning, the group’s armed wing, Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, “totally and completely” rejected the Egyptian initiative in a statement emailed to journalists. A Twitter post, in Hebrew, by Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, took responsibility for the rockets that fired at Israeli cities, adding, “We will continue to bombard until our conditions are met.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the brigades “totally and completely” rejected the Egyptian initiative in a statement emailed to journalists.
“If the published text of this initiative is correct, we only say that this is an initiative of subordination and submission,” the statement said. “For us, this initiative isn’t worth the ink used for typing it.”“If the published text of this initiative is correct, we only say that this is an initiative of subordination and submission,” the statement said. “For us, this initiative isn’t worth the ink used for typing it.”
The website of Al Resalah, a Gaza-based news organization affiliated with Hamas, on Tuesday quoted Lebanese-based Hamas officials responding to the Israeli move. “The occupation must accept the conditions and demands of the resistance,” Osama Hamdan, Hamas’s director of foreign affairs, was quoted as saying by Al Resalah, referring to the opening of border crossings and the release of former Palestinian prisoners rearrested in the West Bank in recent weeks. “Hamas refuses any blackmailing or submission to conditions degrading the rights of resistance,” Mr. Hamdan was quoted as saying. The website Al-Resalah, a Gaza-based news organization affiliated with Hamas, on Tuesday quoted Lebanon-based officials as dismissing the Israeli move. “The occupation must accept the conditions and demands of the resistance,” Osama Hamdan, Hamas’s director of foreign affairs, told Al-Resalah, referring to the opening of border crossings and the release of former Palestinian prisoners rearrested in the West Bank in recent weeks. “Hamas refuses any blackmailing or submission to conditions degrading the rights of resistance.”
A representative of Islamic Jihad, another militant Gaza group, described Israel’s move as “meaningless” and “unserious,” according to Al Resalah. A representative of Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, described Israel’s move as “meaningless” and “unserious,” according to Al-Resalah.
Although several top Israeli ministers had criticized the idea of a cease-fire, saying that not enough damage had yet been inflicted on Hamas’s infrastructure and weapons cache, analysts saw little downside for Israel in accepting the Egyptian outline. The cease-fire will either lead to a genuine calm that benefits both sides or, if Hamas rejects the terms, provide Israel with more international legitimacy to continue the conflict. The Egyptian proposal, which was embraced by the United States, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, calls for border crossings into Gaza to “be opened,” and for the movement of people and goods to be “facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.”
“If Hamas looks at the cards it has been dealt — and they are very weak cards indeed — resuming military operations against Israel is not a good hand to play,” Michael B. Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, an advocacy group. “Now that Israel has accepted the cease-fire and has offered to go into further negotiations,” Mr. Oren said, “if Hamas reopens fire, Israel’s justification for responding in a very robust way is greatly reinforced.” Secretary of State John Kerry, who was expected to return to Washington on Tuesday afternoon from Vienna, where he had been trying to iron out a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, said in a statement that the proposal “provides an opportunity to end the violence and restore calm.”
The Egyptian proposal calls for Israelis and representatives of the militant Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo within 48 hours to negotiate terms for a longer-term truce. The initial cease-fire calls for border crossings into Gaza to “be opened” and for the movement of people and goods to be “facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.” “We welcome the Israeli cabinet’s decision to accept it,” said Mr. Kerry, who was scheduled to brief reporters at noon Vienna time. “We urge all other parties to accept the proposal.”
Overnight, The Israeli military said it had bombed 25 sites in Gaza. Tony Blair, the former British prime minister and envoy for the so-called Middle East quartet — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — called the Egyptian effort an “opportunity to put in place a long-term solution.”
A spokesman for Gaza’s Health Ministry said five people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah and Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since the operation began on Monday to 185; about 1,400 others have been wounded. “This is a very important moment because it gives us the opportunity not just to cease the violence now but to bring genuine hope to the people of Gaza and Israel that there is going to be the possibility of a real and lasting peace,” Mr. Blair said after meeting with President Shimon Peres of Israel. He said the initiative would help reunite Gaza and the West Bank and “have Gaza opened up again to the world.”
Ashraf al-Qedra, the Health Ministry spokesman, and local journalists said that Ismail and Mohammed Najjar, relatives in their 40s who worked as guards on agricultural land in a former Israeli settlement in Khan Younis, were killed early Tuesday. In Rafah, drone strikes killed Atwa al-Amour, a 63-year-old farmer, and Bushra Zourob, 53, who was near the target, a man on a motorbike, who was wounded. Mr. Peres, whose term ends next week, called for a return to peace talks that would bring “two states for two peoples.”
The Israeli military said two people were lightly injured by a rocket that fell in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat early Tuesday. No Israelis have been killed during the current escalation. “I want to say something to the people of Gaza,” Mr. Peres said. “This was the third major escalation in the past six years. Each time it is innocent civilians that suffer and pay the price. Rockets and terror bring you no closer to your national aspirations. Terrorism will not deliver for the Palestinian people.”
A military spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that Israel had hit 1,609 targets in Gaza during the eight-day operation, and counted 1,090 rockets fired into Israel, 193 of which had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. Some Israeli politicians criticized the cease-fire plan, saying that not enough damage had yet been inflicted on Hamas’s infrastructure and weapons caches. Haaretz, an Israel daily, reported that the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and the economy minister, Naftali Bennett, had voted against it in the early-morning meeting of top ministers known as Israel’s security cabinet.
Although there was speculation that Secretary of State John Kerry of the United States would fly to Cairo to facilitate the discussions, he is expected instead to head back to Washington on Tuesday afternoon from Vienna, where he was trying to iron out a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. Mr. Kerry is expected to brief reporters before leaving Vienna. Uri Ariel, the housing minister who is in Mr. Bennett’s far-right party, called the decision “a strategic mistake akin to building a train without paving the last kilometer.” On Twitter, he cracked that previous Israeli operations in Gaza had led to quiet for three years and 18 months, while the latest calm lasted an hour — “impossible to say there is no progress.”
Haaretz, an Israeli daily, reported that Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and the economy minister, Naftali Bennett, both of whom have opposed a cease-fire with Hamas until Israeli forces inflict significantly more damage, voted against the pact in Tuesday morning’s meeting. The right-wing housing minister, Uri Ariel — who is not a member of the security cabinet — called the decision “a strategic mistake akin to building a train without paving the last kilometer,” Haaretz reported. Danny Danon, the deputy defense minister and a frequent critic of Mr. Netanyahu from within the prime minister’s own Likud Party, described the cease-fire as “a slap in the face of all the residents of Israel.”
Isaac Herzog, the head of the Israeli Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said: “If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.” And Isaac Herzog, the head of Israel’s Labor Party and leader of the opposition in Parliament, said: “If the cease-fire doesn’t lead to forward movement in the peace process it is useless.”
But some analysts said there were no downsides to Israel’s move: The Egyptian cease-fire would either lead to a genuine calm that benefits both sides or, if Hamas rejects the terms, provide Israel with cover to continue the conflict.
“If Hamas looks at the cards it has been dealt — and they are very weak cards indeed — resuming military operations against Israel is not a good hand to play,” Michael B. Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday in a conference call organized by The Israel Project, an advocacy group.
“Now that Israel has accepted the cease-fire and has offered to go into further negotiations,” Mr. Oren said, “if Hamas reopens fire, Israel’s justification for responding in a very robust way is greatly reinforced.”
The diplomatic developments followed a relatively quiet night, in which the Israeli military bombed 25 sites in Gaza, killing five people in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, bringing the total of Palestinian deaths since the operation began to 185, according to the Gaza Health Ministry; about 1,400 others have been wounded.
Ashraf al-Qedra, the Health Ministry spokesman, and local journalists said that Ismail and Mohammed Najjar, relatives in their 40s who worked as guards on agricultural land in a former Israeli settlement in Khan Younis, were killed early Tuesday. In Rafah, drone strikes killed Atwa al-Amour, a 63-year-old farmer, and Bushra Zourob, 53, a woman who was near the target, a man on a motorbike, who was wounded.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that Israel had hit 1,609 targets in Gaza during the eight-day operation, and counted 1,090 rockets fired into Israel, 193 of which had been intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
That did not include the assault that began after Israel’s embrace of the cease-fire proposal: more than 30 rockets were fired between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., the military said, mainly aimed at southern areas but also as far north as Haifa and Rehovot.
In Ashdod, a city not far from Gaza that has been pummeled throughout the week, a villa overlooking the sea was directly hit and five surrounding buildings were sprayed with shrapnel.
Gay Dery, 30, had just woken up and did not make it into the bomb shelter — he was lucky, he said, because it ended up being filled with flying debris. Johanna Hizkiya, 32, was still trembling an hour later as a soldier held her child near their home, which was covered in broken glass.
“Everything just flew in the air on us,” Ms. Hizkiya said. “The door flew.”