Israeli officials said Egypt has agreed to hold off on opening its border with Gaza — a key Hamas demand — until there is progress in talks on Shalit\’s return. The IDF is expected to be ready for a last-resort invasion of Gaza, if the cease-fire fails.
With a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas expected to take effect this week, the question is what impact — if any — such a deal will have on the wider efforts to reach accommodation with the Palestinians.
Political impasses are unstable. So is ours. Sooner or later, the volatile situation will erupt, and a new reality will be created.
If Prime Minister Ehud Barak achieves a deal with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, he may yet pull back from the brink of political defeat and win the election.
A terror bombing against an Israeli school bus in the Gaza Strip this week is forcing Prime Minister Ehud Barak to reevaluate his response to Palestinian violence.
Surfacing this week, the Mordechai affair deals Barak\’s motley coalition another awkward blow.
\”We have just completed a very good meeting. I feel we have revitalized the peace process,\” Clinton said after Tuesday\’s meeting, which took place amid commemorations in the Norwegian capital of the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
With Congress and the White House battling over the budget, Israel\’s nearly $3 billion in annual aid as well as funds to help Israel and the Palestinians implement last year\’s Wye River accord have been caught in the political wrangling.
Reform and Conservative leaders — who have been lobbying for years to have their rabbis, institutions and practices recognized in the Jewish state — do not expect the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak to usher in an era of change.
The attacks marked the heaviest cross-border violence since a cease-fire in 1996 ended with Operation Grapes of Wrath, Israel\’s 16-day campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
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