Hope for peace in Gaza...?

Palestinian militants have agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a halt to targetted killings, it emerged last night.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, telephoned Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and told him that all Palestinian factions had agreed to a ceasefire from 6am this morning.

Olmert replied that if there was no rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli forces could stop their operations and begin to withdraw from Gaza. The ceasefire could bring an end to a spate of violence which has seen the death of more than 100 Palestinians in Israeli operations and two Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian rockets within the past month. [emphasis mine]

I see this as a step forward. I remain pessimistic, however, about prospects of long-term peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Even while this agreement was being finalised, Israeli troops killed one "militant" and wounded six Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy shot in the head while standing outside his house.

Moreover, Israel continues to construct its hundreds-mile-long "security wall," essentially walling Palestinians into a huge prison, while the world looks on and does nothing. How would you like to live next to that (pictured above)?! Imagine the loss of an unobstructed view of sky and landscape, in addition to access to hospitals, jobs, relatives, olive groves and freedom of movement in your own community.

That the construction of this wall continues with no real objection on the part of world governments illustrates perfectly how little Palestinian lives matter in the political equation between Israel and Palestine. As long as this remains true, extremists on both sides will have access to a ready pool of volunteers in their desperate, asymmetrical war of suicide bombers vs. the Israeli state.

Complete story here.