After initial reports that Israel would refrain from retaliations (a Kuwaiti newspaper claimed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would respect the cease-fire as long as Hamas punished whoever tested it from the Palestinian side), Israel shut down two crossings between Israel and the West Bank--crossings it had just opened the week before in accordance with the truce.
The crossings are vital for goods to make it into Gaza, which had been under a punishing siege for over a year before the truce. On Wednesday, Israeli authorities opted to keep the crossings closed in response to vows by Palestinian militants to keep firing rockets. Is the truce broken and the siege of Gaza back on? According to Lebanon's Daily Star, "Hamas accused Israel of provoking other armed groups with its actions in the Occupied West Bank, and said troops had fired on Gazan farmers working the pock-marked land near the border with Israel on Wednesday. 'The closing of the crossings and the firing at Palestinian farmers are grave violations of the understandings of the truce and we call on our brothers in Egypt to urgently intervene,' [Hamas] spokesman Taher al-Nunu said."
But the Jerusalem Post was reporting that "Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a prisoner exchange aimed at securing the release of Sgt. Gilad Schalit from Gaza will resume on Thursday, an aide to Defense Minister Ehud Barak said," while the crossings would reopen on Friday--assuming no further rockets are fired. Shalit is the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas militants in June 2006.
Making sense of the Hamas-Israeli conflict (and truce) is a challenge. Here's a road map through the maze.
Comments
I was astonished to see the erroneous caption under the photo from Sderot that accompanies your article “Hamas-Israel Truce Shaken…” Either you or David Silverman the photographer labeled it “the municipality has put up signs warning of the hazards.”
I live in Jerusalem and can assure you that this same yellow sign graces every single pylon carrying live electricity in every Israeli city in the country. (There’s one just outside my apartment) It’s to prevent people from climbing up the poles and has nothing whatever to do with the hazard of falling Kassam rockets.
I assume that you fact check these kinds of things with people that actually live here…or maybe not. Unfortunately, these kinds of errors call into question the accuracy of other material on the site.
BTW-your e mail is bouncing.