Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (99999)	6/3/2003 1:39:19 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Got that Major Grub!! YEEEEE....HAAAWWWWW!!!!!! And just to remain "on-topic"... From the Canadian Globe and Mail: globeandmail.com Why Bush just might succeed in Mideast Militants feel pressure for ceasefire from Palestinians weary of the violence By PAUL ADAMS Tuesday, June 3, 2003 - Page A1 E-mail this Article Print this Article Advertisement GAZA CITY -- Raad Harb's butcher shop is decorated with dozens of colourful posters of Palestinian "martyrs" -- suicide attackers or militants killed in clashes with the Israeli army. But he believes it is time for Palestinians to consider a ceasefire. "They lost their lives, we are sorry for them," he said of the gallery of dead young men who stare out at customers from between the sides of beef dangling in the dusty market air. "But we want peace. We want the operations [attacks on Israelis] to stop." Such a ceasefire is vital to the success of the "road map" to peace that U.S. President George W. Bush is promoting in the Middle East today and tomorrow. A truce, however, may depend more on the sentiments of militants and their supporters in the Gaza Strip and West Bank than on the statements of the Arab leaders with whom Mr. Bush will speak. In his Gaza City living room yesterday, Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, conceded that militants are feeling the pressure of Palestinian public opinion as they consider a hudna, a traditional form of truce mentioned in the Koran. "Yes, yes," he said. "But we have to think thoroughly." Hamas, the most deadly of the Palestinian organizations, is itself divided between its West Bank and Gaza wings, between leaders in prison and those at liberty, and between militants in the Palestinian territories and those in exile. Hamas's absolute rejection of the U.S.-backed road map has been muted in recent days, however, as the group engaged in talks with representatives of Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement. Dr. Zahar suggested that Hamas might demand huge concessions from the Israelis before a ceasefire. Israel has already offered to release some prisoners, and yesterday freed Taysir Khaled, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee. Even if a ceasefire agreement is reached, people here don't hold out much hope that it would lead to anything more than a momentary respite in the 32 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Back in the market, Abu Rami Weshah, who sells live chickens, was drinking coffee and smoking with neighbouring merchants yesterday morning. None of them thought a ceasefire would likely result in much progress toward the road map to peace and Palestinian sovereignty being promoted by Mr. Bush. Still, they all agreed it was worth a try. "If it is going to be serious, it would be great," Mr. Weshah said. "But as an old man I have seen many times that as soon as we get close to an agreement, the Israelis do something to destroy it." People's weariness with the violence will be a crucial card for Mr. Bush. In recent days, the Palestinian prime minister has repeatedly said he expects to reach a hudna with Hamas and the other Palestinian militant organizations in the next few weeks. That will be an important part of his plea for Arab and international support for his fledgling government as he meets with Mr. Bush at both Middle East summits: with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan and King Hamadand of Bahrain in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, today; and again tomorrow in the company of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Aqaba, Jordan. One of the men who would supervise and enforce a ceasefire for Mr. Abbas in the Gaza Strip is Brigadier-General Ahmed Afifi, the head of the Palestinian Intelligence Service here. Large sections of his headquarters complex have come under attack from Israeli forces in the past two years and still stand scorched and abandoned. "Our problem is that the Palestinian street turned against us," he said yesterday from an office overlooking the ruins, referring to Palestinian public opinion. "The Israeli actions -- the incursions, the assassinations, the house demolitions -- angered not just the militants; they angered the Palestinian street." Gen. Afifi said that at the moment the Palestinian Authority has neither the military might nor the political support it would need to make a frontal assault on organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Israelis are understandably suspicious of a ceasefire entirely dependent on the goodwill and co-operation of the organizations that have been dispatching suicide bombers to kill them for the past few years. Both the Israeli and U.S. governments have said that in the long term, a hudna will not be good enough to advance along the road map toward Palestinian statehood: Israel's security will have to be guaranteed by disarming the militants. In the short term, however, even Mr. Sharon -- once regarded as an ultra-hawk -- seems to have accepted that a hudna is the most Mr. Abbas will likely be able to achieve. While there are plenty of Palestinians who say they favour a ceasefire, it is difficult to find anyone in Gaza City who says he wants Hamas to be disarmed. "If they really implement the peace, if the Israelis really withdraw their troops -- in that case Hamas doesn't need weapons and they should be confiscated," said Ibrahim Shakura, one of the men smoking and drinking coffee in front of Mr. Weshah's chicken shop. "But so long as the Israelis don't respect their agreements, Hamas should be strong."