REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- Hamas replied to Israel's unilateral cease-fire in the Gaza Strip today by announcing that it and its allies would also hold their fire.
The Hamas leadership in Syria said its own unilateral cease-fire was taking place immediately. The Islamic militant group gave Israel a week to pull its troops out of the Palestinian territory.
Israel halted its 22-day assault on Gaza early today, saying it would keep its forces in place for now. Israeli leaders have not said when the military will withdraw, although they insist Israel has no interest in staying. "We'll play it day by day," government spokesman Mark Regev said after the Hamas announcement. LAT
The Israel Defense Forces began a partial withdrawal of ground troops from the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening, hours after ending a three-week offensive on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory.
The move also came shortly after Gaza's Hamas rulers announced a one-week cease-fire, despite continuing rocket fire on southern Israel.
The IDF would not say how many troops it is pulling out, but Channel 10showed tanks rolling out and smiling infantry soldiers walking toward the border. Some ground forces remained at key points in Gaza amid the withdrawal.
"I can confirm that a gradual withdrawal of our forces is under way," a military source said, refusing to elaborate on when the pullback might be completed. Israel declared a truce early on Sunday that was matched hours later by Gaza's Hamas leaders.
All is quiet. For now. Hopefully, Hamas will stop as well.
"Hamas has been dealt a very serious blow," Olmert said. "We can say that the conditions have been brought about that enable us to say that the aims that we laid down for the operation have been completely achieved."
Yet Israel is prepared to respond if Hamas militants continue fighting in the Palestinian territory, Olmert said.
"If foes decide to continue to fight against us, then we will be ready and we shall consider ourselves justified in replying," he said. "I do not suggest that Hamas or other terrorist organizations try us."
Immediate Palestinian response to Olmert's announcement was pessimistic.
Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator involved in diplomatic talks on the conflict, noted that Olmert did not say Israeli troops would be leaving Gaza.
"I'm afraid this means the cease-fire will not stand; it will break," Erakat told CNN International. "Anybody can fire a shot now. ... It's a very fragile moment."
The announcement followed a Cabinet meeting Saturday meant to vote on the basics of a plan that could end fighting in Gaza. It also came a day after Israeli and U.S. diplomats signed an agreement designed to stop arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory through tunnels. CNN
You, Barack Hussein Obama, are our last chance, and if that too fades - and evil is determined against us, all hope is lost.
We are the prisoner who is stuck in a cell; without the help of others, we will never succeed in extricating ourselves from the bonds of our natural fear and the historical accounting. And there are no "others" except for America, for which no substitute has been found, even in its time of weakness.
The Israeli politicians - the singers of all the wars - will try to feed you "direct negotiations" and "without external pressure;" these refrains are groundless. Ask your advisers, Dennis Ross and Dan Kurtzer and Martin Indyk, and they will tell you.
They were sold the same stories for too many years. Have they learned their lesson? I wish I was sure of that. After all, under their noses settlements and outposts cropped up and multiplied like poison mushrooms after a shower of government promises. And if it turns out as time goes on that those advisers haven't learned anything and have forgotten everything, you will be better off doing without their services before they cause you to fail as well, and rush to write their belated memoirs and insights.
And don't get too upset by the Israeli lobby in Washington, whose voice is that of Benjamin Netanyahu and not necessarily the voice of Jacob, nor is it the representative voice of the large Jewish community in America. It is hard to be black, who knows as well as you; it is hard to be a Jew, we know; and it's somewhat easier to be a professional Jew in the Diaspora of Washington, D.C., who is more of an Israeli patriot than many Israelis, and no less of one than Evangelist clerics, who are preparing from afar for Armageddon.
