JERUSALEM POST
by Khaled Abu Toameh
July 14, 2014
The Egyptian government on Monday evening proposed a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip, according to which the two sides would end “hostilities” as of 9 a.m.on Tuesday. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to convene the security cabinet early Tuesday morning to discuss the proposal.
Diplomatic officials said that Netanyahu was expected to encourage the other seven members of the security cabinet to accept the proposal, which would return the situation in Gaza to what it was before Operation Protective Edge began a week ago. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Economy Minister are expected to oppose the proposal in the security cabinet, but are unlikely to be able to prevent the forum from accepting it. Some 48 hours after the cease fire goes into effect, Egypt is to convene representatives of both Israel and Hamas for further negotiations. One diplomatic official said that the cease fire would be returned to what it was last Sunday, but “with Hamas much weaker.”
“The effectiveness of their rockets have been neutralized, their storehouses and manufacturing capabilities have been hit, and they have been caused deep frustration because of the effectiveness of Iron Dome,” he said. In addition, he said, Hamas failed in effort to carry out attacks by land air and seat, and is at a low point in public opinion in Judea and Samaria, the international community, the Arab world and even inside Gaza…..
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) said during an interview on Channel 2 that Israel is “grinding Hamas, their officers, the terrorist activists, their homes, their tunnels. They are absorbing a very hard blow.
And precisely because this is the situation, and they [Hamas] are isolated in the world, including in the Arab world, now is the time to change the situation so we don’t go find ourselves in the same situation in another half a year.” Transportation Minister Israel Katz (Likud) said Israel should hold out for a deal that includes the demilitarization of Gaza. Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid) said the dismantling of Hamas’s rocket capabilities would be the ideal option, “but we should not lie to ourselves or the public about this; it’s not realistic to demand demilitarization…..
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