Egypt brokers ceasefire in Middle East conflict
A CEASEFIRE between Israel and Hamas came into force at 9pm local time last night.
Egypt brokered the deal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed after consulting with President Barack Obama.
It ended a week of fighting that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis.
Under its terms, Israel agreed to cease all military activity against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants said they would stop rocket attacks into Israel.
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It was also agreed that, after 24 hours of quiet, Gaza's border crossings with Israel would be opened further to allow freer movement of goods and people.
President Obama welcomed the agreement.
He spoke to Mr Netanyahu and commended him for agreeing to the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
The White House stressed that the United States would use the opportunity to intensify efforts to help Israel address its security needs, especially the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Gaza.
Mr Obama also said he would seek more money for the Iron Dome defence system that has protected Israel from rocket attacks.
Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband had joined together in calls for a ceasefire.
But the pair disagreed at Prime Minister's Questions over support for greater recognition of the Palestinians at the United Nations, with Mr Cameron warning it could be "dangerous" for the peace process.
He said "But in the end the point is this: we will not solve this problem at the United Nations.
"This problem will be solved by Israelis and Palestinians sitting down and negotiating."
Comments
by Tintin
Friday, November 23 2012, 10:41AM
“Snow Bunny, the land occupied by Israel after 1967 & where they have built settlements is recognised under international law as illegal. Yes even US & UK consider it illegal that's who.”
by Snow_Bunny
Thursday, November 22 2012, 11:50PM
“by Andrew_Ilson
Should America kick out all the descendants of slaves who now own land there?
No, they weren't settlers, they were forced there."
I disagree,
Once slavery was abolished they chose to stay there rather than return to their native Africa. At that point they became settlors.”
by Snow_Bunny
Thursday, November 22 2012, 10:48PM
“by Tintin
The recent wave of settlers in illegal Israeli settlements know the dangers of living in illegally occupied land
What illegally occupied land? Who says its illegal? The area occupied is Iraeli territory, just like parts of France were once German territory etcetera.”
by Andrew_Ilson
Thursday, November 22 2012, 7:09PM
“It was during GB's mandate over the area that the problems started, as always.
To snow bunny:
Should we kick out all the French invaders (Normans) and hand England back to the Welsh Celtic people?
Yes
Should America kick out all the descendants of slaves who now own land there?
No, they weren't settlers, they were forced there.
How about handing the USA & Canada back to the Indians it originally belonged to?
Yes.”
by Tintin
Thursday, November 22 2012, 6:41PM
“Who said anything about kicking them out ? The recent wave of settlers in illegal Israeli settlements know the dangers of living in illegally occupied land and so do the Israeli government ? So between them they should have enough sense not to put themselves & their children in harm's way but of course they are arrogant enough to believe they are right in their actions. My gripe is with some of these Rusky Jews who make comments like Gaza should be levelled same as Russia did in Chechnya.
Explain how Arabs were the original thieves, it was the Romans who expelled the Jews not the Arabs.
I can understand some people being pro Israeli because of sympathy for the Jews but it wasn't Arabs who were carrying out pogroms & operating extermination camps.”
by Snow_Bunny
Thursday, November 22 2012, 5:57PM
“by Tintin
"The Israeli citizens happen to be a bunch of settlers from all over the world who are living on land stolen from Palestinians.
Actually the original thieves were the arabs. However, your suggestion that they be kicked out is an interesting one.
Should we kick out all the French invaders (Normans) and hand England back to the Welsh Celtic people?
Should America kick out all the descendants of slaves who now own land there?
How about handing the USA & Canada back to the Indians it originally belonged to?
Israel is a legitimate country which has endured years of threats and terrorist attacks by the arabs. We should be supporting them, not decrying them.”
by Tintin
Thursday, November 22 2012, 5:09PM
“The Israeli citizens happen to be a bunch of settlers from all over the world who are living on land stolen from Palestinians. Most of them probably still hold dual nationality just in case their land grabbing adventure goes wrong & they have to give their place in the sun.”
by Dave_Nottm
Thursday, November 22 2012, 1:07PM
“The 'retaliatory' rocket attacks have been going on for years, targetted by Hamas against Israeli citizens, not their military; Israel finally got fed up of it and took action against those who were doing it.”
by Tintin
Thursday, November 22 2012, 11:14AM
“With the upcoming Israeli elections this was another stunt carried out by Netanyahu & his cronies just to stay in power. They will provoke Hamas anytime they feel like it & then use retaliationary rocket attacks from the Palestinians as an excuse for their missile & aerial bombings. This is the nature of the beast, remember that when they were fighting for a state of their own, they too carried out terrorist attacks against the British like the King David Hotel bombing for which they have never apologised. In fact they recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of that attack which killed 91 people including British soldiers & diplomats.”