So we stop fighting and Hamas has the chance to recover from its painfull death that our soldiers caused in vain....

It does not serve Israel's interests at all. Hamas will continue to arm itself with sophisticated weapons and train its terrorists in Iran while Israel will sit with its hands tied. The intent to destroy Israel as a Jewish state will remain - hamas will simply upgrade itself to hezbollah-like infrastructure and capabilities.

(End).

is Abbas Fatah less terrorist than Hamas ? I don´t think so.....

And we, evidently, are the suckers. Does this mean the threat is removed? No, it means Hamas can continue to arm, train, & prepare until they find it expediant to begin attacks again. Actually, in the short-term, Hamas will just lower the level of attacks, but not enough to invite retaliation. Or, they will switch to other forms of attack like suicide-bombings, leaving the missiles for later. In the meantime, they will continue to advance their take-over of the West Bank. On the subject of missiles, they need the time a ceasefire offers to obtain longer range more accurate missiles from Iran & Syria much as Hezbollah did & still does. Next time (& who doubts there will be a next time?) they will be able to hit not only Sderot & Ashkelon but Ashdod & even Beersheva. Again, the Olmert gov't. protects itself at the cost of our security. For Olmert, this relieves pressure to do anything, inaction being his favorite policy these days. And, a ceasefire allows everyone, like Shas, for example, to find excuses to stay in the coalition. All these politicians hope that people will forget the threat & go back to sleep. This is exactly what we did in S. Lebanon when we allowed Hezbollah to build itself into a major threat instead of a minor annoyance. Actually, this is how successive Israeli gov't.'s have dealt with every security issue with few exceptions. And, as the threats continue to grow, multiply, & become more serious, our survival as a country is less and less likely.

Charles, Right now Hamas is the biggest issue in Gaza and not Fatah. I hope that Mr Abbas is truely a partner for peace. We cannot expect to not try and work with him to sought peace he is their only hope at the moment due to Hamas not being a peace partner now or in the future as Israel will and cannot recognize such a hostile entity.

Yet there was 1 this morning. EVEN ONE, is ONE TO MANY! What the mean is because Egypt caught them trying to smuggle more ammo in, the will have to wait until they can get them stock piled again. I do not, and will never trust them. Olmert and his cronies are the worst bunch of idiots ever voted in. Our political system needs one great big shake up with MEN of HONOUR (to their voters and country) in charge not corrupt inter-related mice.

there is no massive flow of weapons going into West Bank + fatah is much weaker than hamas However, the notion that Abbas and fatah are our "peace partners" is ridiculous. To supply them with weapons and enter into "amnesty" deals with them is simply criminal.

Stop and consider. Olmert will NEVER commit to operation necessary to weed out Hamas. That would require total warfare and significant casualties on both sides. As much as we would like Hamas neutralized the fact of the matter is Olmert will ALWAYS retreat after 4 days, bet your bottom dollar on it. Given that you cannot defeat Hamas with words and skirmishes perhaps it is better that the residents of Sderot get a much needed break from the relentless rocket strikes and see where this calm takes us. If need be we can always launch another 4 day aborted operation. Israel has very few options w/ such poor leadership. You get what you pay for.

I have strong doubt, maybe I am wrong but I simply don´t trust these Arafat successors

I fully agree with your findings

Ceasefire is an arab tactic that olmerDs fall in. Israel needs and arab tricker with a Jewish soul to negociate in its behalf.With bad people one must act badly and cunningly!

President Bush is totally blind to the fact that there cannot be peace in the Middle East as long as the Arabs in Gaza, the West Bank and the Islamic World, be it Arab or just Muslim, recognize Israel's right to exist. Last night we were treated to a typical Netanyahu diatribe on the failings, of which there are many, of the Olmert Government. However, our esteemed previous Prime Minister, who shares the podium with Olmert as the two worst Prime Ministers in the history of the State of Israel, failed to even broach the question of US pressure on Israel, now and in the past. Do not forget that he, Bibi Netanyahu, gave up Hebron in the Wye Plantation Agreement, the birth place of Judaism and the resting place of the fathers and mothers of our people. H abandoned 400 Israelis to a fate of living with 160,000 terrorists on their door step! The USA should pressure Israel, only after they have won the war in Iraq and when Bush has made his peace with Osama bin Laden.

Charles, Time will tell my friend. I have my doubt also but am hiping for the best.

sleep soundly at night and not?!

pls don´t forget that the Fatah peace partners murdered more israelis than the bad Hamas terrorists 2000-2008

Hamas or any other Islamic terror group will/would never agree to a cease fire, ( really a temporary armed truce) with Israel, if Israel had not heaped a lot of pain on them. The Gazan barbarians will use this time to regroup, rearm and then attack Israel again. The Olmert quick fix may stop some rockets temporarily but it does not destroy the problem which is Hamas and their like minded terrorist thug brothers. The Gazan barbarians are very predictable.

it is really nice to see everyone in agreement i am sur you and all Israel will have a very happy PURIM

Peace in out Time, the best news since Munich! Now we can go back to our normal lives, feeling safe that our far-seeing leaders are really looking out for our long-term security. Ahhh.

The articles are quite similar in writing and intent: Ynet backs al jazeera's apology to islam for the debate held on the evils of islam; and ynet joined al jazeera in telling Israelis how wonderful it is that "only one rocket" was fired at us. Only one?....Gee thanks!

Israel would be wise to continue enforcement

How dumb can he get? A cease fire is the WORST thing that you can agree to with muslimes. They have bene using this trick for 1,300 years. They are re-arming, re-grouping ,and re-planning. When every muslim is turned to ASHES---THAT is when we can have a cease fire. HELP US HASHEM!!

v AMEN

Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on the Item"Illegal Israeli Actions in the Occupied East Jerusalem and the Rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory", 7 April 2002 http://www.nam.gov.za/media/020705is.htm