With Gaza cease-fire, Arab and European leaders look to secure peace

A militant, known as Abu Musab, who is involved in rocket-launching, said on Saturday that Hamas foot soldiers would not put down their arms without being told to do so by their superiors, and without being able to point to specific achievements. None of their goals, the militant said, had been met.

“If we don’t reach a fair agreement, then we lost all these souls for nothing,” said Abu Musab, who is a member of the Izz ed-Din al-Qassam Brigades. “We will follow the orders of our leaders, and so far, we haven’t received any new orders.”

Hours after the Israeli ceasefire began Sunday, Reuters reporterd that Gaza militants fired five rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot, causing no casualties. By the afternoon, another nine rockets hit Israel, Israeli police said. Israeli aircraft staged what appeared to be a limited response, attacking sites where the rockets were launched.

But Hamas is clearly weary from its losses, analysts say, and would do well with a break from battle in order to rebuild.

“It will hold for a while, because Hamas understands that Israel will not stand for any resumption of the rocketing, and that Israel will retaliate brutally, as it did now,” says Yitzchak Reiter, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “I think they understand that there is a new situation in which Israel will retaliate very strongly against any violence whatsoever. And, Hamas needs time to build up all of what was destroyed. They need a period of calm, just for them to resume their own control over the Gaza Strip.”

Professor Reiter says that even if other groups in Gaza, such as Islamic Jihad, launch more rockets at Israel at this point, Israel will read it as a sign that Hamas has not given such groups a “red light.”

Resentment of Israeli troops
Though the unilateral cease-fire holds some hope of a respite from the violence, many Palestinians say the presence of Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip will, in and of itself, be a reason for Hamas to continue fighting. Israel withdrew troops and 8,000 settlers from Gaza in September 2005, but Palestinians say the occupation is ongoing because Israel keeps a land, sea, and air blockade on the territory.

Israeli tank fire killed two boys at a UN-run school in the northern Gaza Strip Saturday, a UN official said. An Israeli army spokesman said he was checking the report.

Several rockets hit Israel Saturday, and after the ceasefire was announced, eight rockets hit the Western Negev area on Saturday night. Nine IDF troops were wounded in Gaza operations Saturday, four of them seriously.

Mr. Ban, the UN chief, condemned the “outrageous” attack on the UN school.

Ban has been pressing for an immediate cease-fire, said that Israel’s declaration should accompanied by time frame for Israeli troop withdrawal. Israel, however, has only said that it will withdraw its tanks and forces when the rockets cease.

“The fighting on both sides must stop, that is first and foremost,” Ban said. “Then we can discuss all other matters.”

• Safwat al-Kahlout in Gaza contributed to this report, and material from the wires was used.

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