Israel Matzav

Hamas giving up on 'cease fire'

Here's another hint that Olmert is shifting from the 'Palestinian track' to the 'Syrian track' in a bid to show an 'accomplishment' that will keep his leftist partners in the coalition and keep him in power. Hamas announced Wednesday night that the 'cease fire' talks have failed. And it barely made the headlines on the Internet (and did not make them on the radio until this morning).

According to a Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, the Egyptians may announce the failure of the truce talks in the wake of Hamas's refusal to accept the Israeli conditions.

"Israel wants a free truce," he said. "They don't want to offer anything in return. They want an end to the rocket attacks in return for an end to their aggression."

The official said Hamas was demanding the immediate reopening of all of the Gaza Strip's border crossings and a halt to IDF operations.

He noted Israel had made it clear to the Egyptians that the borders would be reopened only after a truce went into effect and was not violated by any of the Palestinian factions.

Moreover, Israel was conditioning the reopening of the border crossings on the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, the official added.

He said Hamas had rejected the conditions.

Another Hamas official accused Israel of placing "obstacles" on the road to achieving a truce.

"Israel's conditions are completely unacceptable," he said. "These conditions are clearly aimed at foiling Egypt's efforts."

The Hamas delegation to the Cairo talks is scheduled to return to Syria and the Gaza Strip Thursday. The delegation, which held talks with Egyptian General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, is headed by Musa Abu Marzouk and Mahmoud Zahar.

Hamas leaders were apparently prepared to call an end to the talks after again hearing that Israel was willing to permit the Palestinians to reopen the Rafah border crossing only under the terms of a 2005 US-brokered agreement that placed the terminal under the control of forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

But don't worry. The 'Palestinians' won't starve:

Despite the ongoing attacks from Gaza, Israel transferred another 75 trucks of food and other humanitarian supplies to the Strip on Wednesday via the Sufa border terminal.

Don't count on the 'Palestinians' to sit quietly. I would expect them to undertake terror attacks (like this morning's) to bring themselves back into the picture.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:24 AM