Israel scuppering truce moves

Israel, at the last minute, has linked the freeing of one of its soldiers to the opening of the border with Gaza. Israel now risks fracturing its alliance with Mubarak in Egypt.

There are rumours the recent Egyptian clampdown on activists crossing into Gaza through the tunnels is part of a move to take full control before opening the border.

If Olmert and co refuse to open the crossings into Israel it could prove to be irrelevant as there is no reason why all the needs of the Gazan population could not be shipped through the Egyptian border. The downside is that it could make even more permanent the separation of Gazans from their relations in the West Bank.

The political ramifications of the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy arriving in Egypt at the beginning of March will also help to concentrate minds, Mubarak's in particular as he struggles to contain domestic anger at his government's collaboration with the Israeli siege.

The opening of the Rafah crossing could help him defuse some of the rage - although during and since the most recent Israeli massacres started the Muslim Brotherhood, by far Egypt's largest opposition movement, has unfortunately equivocated in calling mass demonstrations for Gaza and against the regime.

From Palestine Information Center

Hamdan: Israel is fully responsible for its retreat from the truce agreement

Osama Hamdan, the representative of the Hamas Movement in Lebanon, on Saturday held Israel fully responsible for any retreat from the understandings of calm, adding that the Egyptian mediator should take a stance towards this Israeli procrastination.

Hamdan told Al-Jazeera TV channel that there was full agreement between Hamas and the Egyptian mediator about the understandings of the truce, but during the search for a final formula for the agreement, there was an Israeli retreat aimed to achieve gains in the last moments.

As for the statements made by Israeli premier Ehud Olmert that Gilad Shalit should be released in order for the truce to take effect, the Hamas representative underlined that the Cairo talks was about the truce, the siege lifting and the timeframe for the calm and it was agreed upon to separate the two files. more

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