HAMAS BREAKS CEASEFIRE - CLAIMS TRUCE

THE ONLY REASON HAMAS IS DOING THIS IS SO THEY CAN REARM WITH WEAPONS,WHAT A PLOY AND POOR ISRAEL GOT SUCKED INTO THE DECEPTION. ISRAEL HAS TO TAKE THEM RIGHT OUT OF COMMISSION TO HAVE DONE THEIR JOB PROPERLY.

Netanyahu: Job Not Finished; Shin Bet: Hamas Can Rearm in Months
by Gil Ronen JAN 18,09

(IsraelNN.com) Likud head MK Binyamin Netanyahu, who is considered likely to lead Israel after the coming elections, said Sunday afternoon that the IDF has dealt Hamas some very hard blows on the head, but regrettably the job has not been finished.Hamas still controls Gaza and it will continue to smuggle new missiles in through the Philadelphi Route, Netanyahu said. I believe that in the face of Hamas's terror and its Iranian backing, we must show no weakness and we must show a resolute, iron fist, until the enemy is vanquished.Netanyahu spoke at the bedside of a wounded soldier, Or Malka, in Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva. Malka was wounded by shrapnel which penetrated his forehead and is suffering from hearing loss.Or's mother, Pnina, said The IDF deserves all the respect. We are not afraid, I just hope that Gilad Shalit returns and all of the soldiers return safely.Or's brother Yochai told Netanyahu that their cousin was killed in an Arab attack at the Erez crossing and that he, too, was wounded during his military service. We are a strong and united nation, Yochai said. This war has united the nation. We need to understand that we have no other country.

Diskin: smuggling will resume
Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Yuval Diskin estimated Sunday morning that despite the serious impairment of Hamas's smuggling abilities, some tunnels used for weapons smuggling remain intact. He told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting that Hamas would be able to rebuild the tunnels within a few months' time, and could then renew the arms smuggling into Gaza.Diskin said that the populace in Gaza is very critical of Hamas for the destruction it has brought upon Gaza. He said that ever since Israel declared a ceasefire, Hamas's leadership has shown a great degree of confusion.

Ashkenazi sends message to troops

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi sent a message to the troops on Sunday, following Israel's declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza, in which he wrote: The objectives which were presented at the start of the Cast Lead campaign have been completely met; Hamas's structure and terrorist infrastructure have been hit hard.He added, The campaign is not over and the coming days require us to stay organized, prepared and ready until quiet returns to our communities and cities.

Israelis begin gradual Gaza pullout: army JAN 18,09

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli troops have begun a gradual withdrawal from Gaza after a deadly 22-day war against the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers Hamas, an army spokesman said on Sunday.I can confirm that there is a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an army spokeswoman told AFP.The pullout comes after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a unilateral halt late Saturday to a massive operation designed to put an end to Hamas rocket-firing that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 Palestinians.Hamas has separately called a week-long truce to give the Israelis time to withdraw.

Hamas announces ceasefire after Israel declares truce By Nidal al-Mughrabi JAN 18,09

GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas said Sunday it would cease fire immediately along with other militant groups in the Gaza Strip and give Israel, which already declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory.A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response: We'll play this day by day. We'll see how this goes. We want to leave Gaza. We'll do so as soon as we can.Ayman Taha, a Hamas official in Cairo for talks with Egypt on the conflict, said the group and other factions were announcing a Gaza ceasefire starting immediately and Israel, which launched its offensive on December 27, had a week to withdraw.Hamas, he said, was demanding the opening of all Gaza border crossings for the entry of all materials, food, goods and basic needs.The Islamist group said previously it would not stop its attacks as long as Israeli soldiers remained in the Gaza Strip.During the 22-day-long offensive, Israeli attacks killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including some 700 civilians, Gaza medical officials said. Israel said hundreds of gunmen were among the dead. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed as well as three Israeli civilians hit by rockets.Some 17 rockets hit southern Israel after the ceasefire Olmert declared went into effect at 2 a.m. ( 7 p.m. EST). Israel responded with two air strikes against launching sites and medical workers said a Palestinian civilian was killed.At least three rockets struck southern Israel after Hamas said it was halting attacks, police said.A statement issued by Hamas in Syria, which also announced the week-long ceasefire, said Palestinian factions were willing to respond to efforts by Egypt and others to broker an agreement for the final lifting of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

EGYPT MEETING

Israel tightened the blockade, deepening hardship in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Egypt has largely kept its Rafah crossing with the enclave closed.If this ceasefire holds, and I hope it does, you'll see the crossings open to an enormous amount of humanitarian support, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev told Britain's Sky News.

In the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the leaders of Britain, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Spain and Turkey, along with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, met to coordinate policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.They gathered to back Egyptian efforts to turn a shaky ceasefire into a solid mutual agreement leading to Israeli withdrawal.In the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian ambulances picked up more than 95 bodies, most of them gunmen, that had lain in the rubble of buildings and open areas, Hamas police and health officials said.The civilian death toll and destruction in the Gaza Strip brought strong international pressure on Israel to stop the offensive it launched with the declared aim of ending rocket attacks that had killed 18 people over the previous eight years.Olmert said Saturday that Israel would not bring its troops home until Hamas ceased fire completely and he threatened to respond strongly to any attacks on the soldiers or cross-border rocket salvoes. He cited internationally backed understandings with Egypt, Gaza's southern neighbor, on preventing Hamas from rearming through smuggling tunnels as a reason behind Israel's decision to call off its attacks. After the start of the Israeli-declared ceasefire, Palestinians rushed to remove bodies and survey damage to homes damaged or destroyed in the fighting.
Israel has said it tried to avoid harming non-combatants but that Hamas operated in heavily populated areas. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Alaa Shahine in Cairo, Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams)

World leaders race to consolidate Mideast truce By JAMEY KEATEN and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writers JAN 18,09

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – European and Arab leaders racing to consolidate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas pressed Sunday for an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza and for the opening of the territory to desperately needed humanitarian aid.A summit meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik concluded that the next steps will include a humanitarian summit organized by Egypt in the coming days and the search for a way to open Gaza's sealed border crossings to allow in humanitarian aid.

Britain's leader announced at the gathering that his country was tripling its humanitarian aid to Gaza. The government said in a statement the additional 20 million pounds, or about $29 million, would go toward rebuilding damaged homes and helping those injured in the violence.A unilateral Israeli cease-fire began before dawn Sunday. Hamas also announced it would halt fighting from its side for one week while demanding that Israeli troops leave the territory.The U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, stressed the need for Hamas to stop rocket fire and for Israel to exercise restraint to sustain the halt.The crucial question left unresolved was how to stop weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border to Gaza's Hamas rulers.France, Britain, Germany and the United States have all offered help in stopping the flow of weapons, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has firmly rejected any deployment of international monitoring forces on its side of the Gaza border.We have pledged to help Israel and Egypt with all the technical, military, naval and diplomatic ways to help end the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a news conference after the summit.Preventing Hamas from rearming is a key demand of Israel in any lasting deal. It launched its offensive on Dec. 27 with the argument that Hamas had used a six-month truce earlier in the year to restock its arsenal. That truce unraveled as Hamas intensified its rocket fire into southern Israel. Hamas, for its part, complained that Israel maintained a blockade of Gaza despite that period of calm.Egypt, maintaining that it can police its own border with Gaza, has rejected the idea of any international monitoring force in its territory.On Sunday, Mubarak again stressed that Egypt will not accept any foreign observers on its land.

The Arab League chief, who also attended the summit, said the way to stop smuggling through the tunnels under the border was by opening Gaza's crossing points with Israel to allow in commercial goods. Besides weapons, Gazans also use the tunnels to smuggle desperately needed food and fuel.Smuggling is a problem because of the suffocation in Gaza, said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. What else could they do but smuggle the items they need because of the siege? And so, the smuggling is connected to the opening of the crossings and ending the siege.While, acknowledging the difficult task ahead, Sarkozy said now was the time to speed efforts toward the ultimate goal of Mideast peacemaking: the creation of a Palestinian state.In our minds, this is the beginning of our journey, he said. We should continue and we should accelerate our efforts in order to achieve a settlement based on the creation of two states, a Palestinian state living side-by-side with an Israeli state that has the right to its security.Gaza Strip militants conditioned any longer-term truce on a complete Israeli troop withdrawal from the territory. And in a sign of how fragile the immediate situation was, Palestinian militants continued to hit southern Israel with rockets Sunday.The three weeks of fighting killed more than 1,250 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died during the offensive, including four killed by rocket fire.

Sarkozy also stressed the need for Israel to quickly pull its forces out of Gaza.

Israel should state immediately and clearly that if rocket fire will stop, the Israeli army will leave Gaza. There is no other solution to achieve peace, Sarkozy said. Laying out some of the specifics, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that in addition to increasing humanitarian aid money, his country would help transport the injured to hospitals, rebuild Gaza's shattered buildings and clear away unexploded bombs. Brown appealed for other nations to join Britain. Today, humanitarian tragedy must not be met just by sympathy but by the immediate mobilization of aid, he said. With its new pledge, total British aid to Gaza since the conflict began stands at nearly 27 million pounds, or about $40 million. The U.N. secretary-general said he would send a humanitarian needs assessment team to Gaza this week that would compile a report within 10 days so an urgent appeal can be made.

ALL THIS PRESSURE ON ISRAEL,WERES THE PRESSURE ON HAMAS TO STOP SHOOTING ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL,WERES THE PRESSURE ON IRAN TO STOP THE NUKES,WHY AREN'T THESE QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY THE WORLD.AND ONE LAST QUESTION WERE IS GILAD SHALIT AND HOW COME NO PRESSURE FROM THE WORLD TO GET HAMAS TO GIVE HIM BACK TO ISRAEL AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS CAPTURED,WE KNOW WHY BECAUSE HAMAS HAS BEHEADEDED POOR GILAD A LONG TIME AGO ALREADY THATS WHY! SO WERES THE OUTRAGE FROM THE WORLD AGAINST HAMAS,INSTEAD OF ISRAEL GETTING PICKETED WORLDWIDE FOR DEFENDING THEMSELVES AGAINST HAMAS MURDERERS ROCKETS FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.

Brown calls for immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza JAN 18,09

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday he saw a clear path to peace following a summit on Gaza in Egypt and called for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.We believe that three weeks of tragedy must be followed by immediate action to secure a permanent peace settlement, he said.

Building on the Arab peace initiative, building on what I see is the willingness (for) peace on all sides and building also on the fact that while amidst suffering and grief and tears, I believe I can see a clear path to peace and I believe that most courageous leaders in this region can also see a clear path to peace.He called too for an end to rocket attacks by Gaza militants.This fragile ceasefire has got to be followed immediately, if it is to be sustainable, by humanitarian access... by troop withdrawals, by an end to arms trafficking, he said.Today a humanitarian tragedy must be met not just by sympathy but by an immediate mobilisation of aid. That is why today we will treble our humanitarian aid, he said.Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak said after the meeting that Egypt will host an international meeting to muster the necessary resources to rebuild Gaza.

U.S. welcomes Gaza ceasefire, Iran says not enough By Peter Millership Peter Millership – Sun Jan 18, 9:33 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States welcomed Israel's ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and said it expected all parties to stop hostile actions immediately while the United Nations expressed relief.Iran said the ceasefire was not enough and that Israel's military must withdraw, Turkey urged Western countries to engage with Hamas, and the pope urged the world to pray for peace in Gaza and the hundreds killed in the conflict.The goal remains a durable and fully respected ceasefire that will lead to stabilization and normalization in Gaza, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after Israel called off its three-week offensive in the area.The United States commends Egypt for its efforts and remains deeply concerned by the suffering of innocent Palestinians, she added. We welcome calls for immediate coordinated international action to increase assistance flows and will contribute to such efforts.Hamas announced an immediate ceasefire by its fighters and allied groups in Gaza on Sunday, senior Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters, adding that the Islamists gave Israel a week to pull out its troops.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the Israeli ceasefire and urged Israel to withdraw all of its troops.

I am relieved that the Israeli government has decided to cease hostilities, Ban told reporters. This should be the first step leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, he said, adding he wanted the withdrawal as soon as possible.He said Hamas militants also needed to do their part to bring an end to the violence by halting their rocket attacks against southern Israel. Hamas militants must stop firing rockets now, he said.U.S. President-elect Barack Obama welcomed Israel's ceasefire and will say more on the situation in Gaza after he is inaugurated on Tuesday, his spokeswoman said.Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire which took effect at 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday. Within hours, five rockets were fired at the Israeli town of Sderot, causing no casualties. Hamas announced its ceasefire later on Sunday.

EGYPT TALKS

European leaders and Ban will attend talks in Egypt on Sunday aimed at bolstering the ceasefire.Israel must allow full access to humanitarian workers, and to relief supplies, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said en route to the summit. We must also end Gaza's economic isolation by reopening the crossings that link it to the outside world.The priority now is to ensure that no more civilians die as a result of this conflict, the Czech EU presidency said in a statement welcoming the ceasefire.It is vital, therefore, that all required humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medical aid is freely and rapidly delivered into, and distributed within Gaza.Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the ceasefire announcement showed the victory of the Islamic resistance and the heroic people of Gaza against Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported.The mere halt in air, sea and land attacks, without the withdrawal of the (Israeli) forces from the occupied positions, would not be enough for the cessation of confrontation, Mottaki said. It is necessary that the Zionist forces leave the occupied regions, he said, calling their presence provocative.Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticized world leaders for leaving Hamas out of the peace process, saying it was a democratically elected political party. He also warned that the situation in Gaza could take on a very different dimension if Western countries did not show appropriate sensitivity toward Hamas. This political party Hamas won an election with nearly 75 percent of the vote. The West, which has shown no respect for this embracing of democracy, is responsible for this situation, Erdogan told a news conference. Pope Benedict, in his strongest comments yet on the situation in Gaza, on Sunday condemned the violence that he said had killed hundreds of innocent victims. Speaking at his weekly Sunday noon prayer, the pope also asked his listeners in St Peter's Square and around the world to pray for the success of all efforts to end the tragedy and bring about lasting peace. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Hashem Kalantari, Fredrik Dahl, Philip Pullella, Louis Charbonneau and Jim Wolf)

Pope backs Gaza peace efforts Sun Jan 18, 7:15 am ET

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday backed efforts to end the Gaza war and offered prayers for the innocent victims of the conflict.The pope called for support for all those trying to stop the tragedy in the Gaza Strip, just hours ahead of a summit on the crisis at Sharm El-Sheik, in Egypt.He gave support to those who, on one side and the other, believe that there is a place for everyone in the Holy Land.The pontiff expressed hope that all sides could help their populations pick themselves up from the ruins and the terror and courageously pick up again the thread of dialogue, in justice and in truth.Speaking during weekly prayers at the Vatican, he also prayed for the hundreds of children, elderly and women killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas -- innocent victims of an unheard of violence.

He called for Catholics to pray for the efforts of numerous people of good will who are working to stop the tragedy.Egypt was to host a summit of top European leaders and UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday to seek a lasting truce in the Gaza Strip after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire.The 22-day-long campaign to stop Hamas firing rockets into Israeli territory has killed at least 1,300 people, including more than 400 children, wounded another 5,300, and left large swathes of the enclave in ruins.

On the Israeli side three civilians and 10 soldiers were killed in combat and rocket attacks.The pope on Saturday sent aid to the Gaza Strip for Catholics there to distribute to Palestinian victims of the conflict.

Arab peace plan 'not dead' despite Gaza war: Blair Sun Jan 18, 6:48 am ET

RIYADH (AFP) – Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said on Sunday that an Arab initiative for peace in the region was not dead despite Israel's lethal 22-day war on the Gaza Strip.The Arab peace initiative is not dead unless we make it so, Blair said in Riyadh, where he held talks with Saudi King Abdullah, a key force behind the initiative, late Saturday.Rather than create new obstacles, the Israeli war on the impoverished enclave ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement could be used to bolster the overall Middle East peace process, Blair indicated.Israel's unilateral ceasefire, which took effect early on Sunday, was fragile now in the short-term, never mind the long-term, said the former British prime minister.But it is only going to endure if we adopt a strategy which revitalises the whole peace process, he said.Blair was referring to a Saudi-inspired peace plan presented at an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, and relaunched at a Riyadh summit in 2007.The initiative calls for a full normalisation of relations between Arab states and Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from Arab land, the creation of a Palestinian state and an equitable solution for Palestinian refugees.Asked about the role of Hamas, Blair stressed the need for it to reconcile with other Palestinian groups, particularly the Fatah faction of Palestinian president which controls the West Bank.The only way forward is on the basis of Palestinian unity. But it's got to be on the right terms consistent with the Arab initiative and the two-state solution, he stressed.Blair arrived in Riyadh on Sunday and had a one-hour meeting with King Abdullah to discuss how to proceed on the broader peace process, help rebuild Gaza and address immediate humanitarian needs.He called for global help on the immediate humanitarian needs of the Palestinians, and the reconstruction work.However, he added: We've got to make sure that this time the reconstruction happens within a framework that means we're not having to reconstruct again in a couple years time or less.Blair will also meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal before heading to the United Arab Emirates for talks.Israel's campaign, aimed at destroying ruling Hamas' military capabilities, killed at least 1,245 people, wounded 5,300, and left large swathes of the territory in ruins.

Gaza rockets hit southern Israel: Israeli TV Sun Jan 18, 2:10 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Sunday, the first such attack since a unilateral Israeli ceasefire went into effect, Channel 10 television reported.Seconds after Israel Radio announced that a rocket alarm had sounded in Sderot, a Channel 10 reporter in the town said he heard two explosions. Channel Two television said six rockets had been fired at southern Israel.Earlier, Israeli forces and Palestinian militants waged a brief gun battle in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and Hamas sources said. Hamas has rejected the ceasefire, saying it would continue fighting as long as Israeli troops remained in the territory.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Ori Lewis)