The Egyptian initiative includes three steps;
- unconditional agreement to the initiative by both sides,
- a ceasefire, and
- talks about the consolidation of the ceasefire and the resumption of confidence-building measures.
The text of the Egyptian Initiative for a Ceasefire in Gaza
1. Owing to Egypt’s historical responsibility, and out of belief in the importance of achieving peace in the region, protecting the lives of innocents, and ending the bloodshed;
Egypt calls upon Israel and all of the Palestinian factions to enact an immediate ceasefire, due to the fact that escalation and mutual violence, and the victims that will result, will not be in the interest of either party as such, during the period of the ceasefire, both sides shall abide by the following:
a. Israel shall cease all hostilities against the Gaza Strip via land, sea, and air, and shall commit to refrain from conducting any ground raids against Gaza and targeting civilians.
b. All Palestinian factions in Gaza shall cease all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel via land, sea, air, and underground, and shall commit to refrain from firing all types of rockets, and from attacks on the borders or targeting civilians.
c. Crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground.
d. Other issues, including security issues shall be discussed with the two sides.
2. Method of implementation of the initiative:
a. It has been decided to initiate implementation of the de-escalation agreements at -- : -- hours (GMT) on -- / 7 / 2014, pending the implementation of a full ceasefire within twelve hours of the announcement of the Egyptian initiative and its unconditional acceptance by both sides.
b. High-level delegations from both the Israeli government and the Palestinian factions shall be hosted in Cairo within 48 hours of the initiation of the initiative’s implementation in order to conclude talks for the consolidation of the ceasefire and resume confidence-building measures between the two sides. Talks shall be held with each of the two sides separately (in accordance with the agreements for the consolidation of de-escalation in Cairo in 2012).
c. Both sides shall commit to refrain from taking any actions aimed at undermining the implementation of the agreements; Egypt shall receive guarantees from both sides of their commitment to implementing what has been agreed and shall follow up on its implementation and engage with either side in the case of any action that impinges on its stability.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
The Israeli cabinet met early this morning and decided to accept the Egyptian initiative, which was presented to the Israeli government, the leadership of Hamas, and the leadership of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza last night.
The Israeli military began holding its fire at some time this morning. There are multiple conflicting reports about when this began but it seems that it began at some time between 9:00am and 10:50am.
I do not know what time these were officially announced, but by 10:00am news about the Israeli cabinet's decision had been widely disseminated.
Rockets continued to be launched from Gaza during the day, reportedly 47 between 9:00am and about 3:00pm when the Isreali military resumed its attacks on Gaza.
There have been many media reports that Hamas has rejected the Egyptian initiative, and other reports that the leadership of Hamas and the leadership of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza were seperately still discussing the proposal. The Egyptian government is reportedly in discussions with Hamas about the initiative.
I saw a few articles with headlines something like 'Hamas Rejects Ceasefire' which then contained information about the leadership of Hamas continuing to discuss the Egyptian initiative.
The Egyptian initiative calls on both sides to unconditionally accept the initiative, and to begin observing a ceasefire, and to agree on a time and a date on which the initiative will begin to be implemented.
There was an overly ambitious anticipation that the Egyptian initiative would be agreed to by both sides, and that a ceasefire would begin, by 9:00am this morning.
That did not happen, ceasefires cannot be arranged in such a short time, overnight.
The viability of the Egyptian initiative now depends on whether or not the the Israeli government maintains its acceptance of the initiative and on whether or not the leadership of Hamas also accepts it.
If the Israeli government maintains its acceptance of the initiative and the leadership of Hamas does not accept the initiative in the very near future, Hamas will have done something which I feel is both increadibly stupid and counterproductive.
If the Israeli government withdraws its acceptance of the initiative the killing and destruction could go on until international pressure forces some sort of resolution.
It is also possible that the Israeli government and Hamas may decide to escalate the conflict.
The killing of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure has to end and the Egyptian initiative, which the Israeli government has accepted, seems to be the quickest way for that to happen right now.