Egypt begins its ceasefire proposal by blowing its own horn that the initiative comes from “its historical responsibility, and out of belief in the importance of achieving peace in the region, protecting the lives of innocents, and ending the bloodshed.”
Talk about chutzpah. That is like a white supremacist trying to preach equality. How many people did the Mubarak, Muslim Brotherhood and al-Sisi people kill during protests against their regimes. Was it 2,000 or 3,000?
“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.”
Wait a minute, Egypt. It is not in the t interest of the civilized world that the Hamas terrorist infrastructure be destroyed?
The al-Sisi regime’s proposal first demands, “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.”
Is the maritime blockade against the smuggling of terrorists and weapons into Gaza a “hostility”? Does this proposal mean that Israel must open the seas for Iran to send even more advanced weapons to Gaza?
Egypt demands from Hamas, “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.
“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.”
What does “stable” mean? A ceasefire that lasts two hours? Or two days? Or maybe even two weeks?
Does “stable “mean that Gaza terrorists attacked Israel “only” with one or two Kassam rockets?
“ Other issues, including security issues shall be discussed with the two sides.
“Method of implementation of the initiative:
“ 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.”
Apparently, the blanks means that neither Hamas nor Israel is ready to sign as of yet. Making the proposal public is intended to pressure both sides to do so.
“ 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).”
In other words, the “peace process” now will involve Hamas and Israel, with Cairo brokering the talks. Next step is U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s getting on stage again and playing out another round of peace talks, with Hamas and Fatah sitting as peace partners for Israel.