Today's Situation

STARTING POINT FOR PEACE, November 28, 2006

Three years after announcing, at the memorial service to David Ben-Gurion, that Israel would withdraw troops and remove settlements from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned to Sde Boker yesterday and delivered a speech that is being touted as the starting point for the next stage of the peace process.

Olmert offered to free prisoners, lift checkpoints and release funds withheld from the Palestinian Authority in return for decisive steps toward peace. 'I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbors in the hope that it won't be returned empty,' he said during a ceremony at the tomb of Israel's founding father. He invited the Palestinians to help negotiate a lasting settlement, saying they stand at a 'historic crossroads.'

Reactions to the speech were, predictably, mixed. The Americans described it as 'constructive, the Palestinians dismissed it 'a new maneuver,' and the Israeli right called it 'capitulation.'

Olmert's speech comes at a time when there is increased diplomatic activity in the region, spurred in part by the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which went into effect on Sunday morning and which was violated by the firing of two Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel yesterday.

According to Haaretz, the IDF responded to the Qassams by changing its rules of engagement vis-?-vis rocket-launching cells. The new rules allow troops to fire should they positively identify Palestinian militants preparing to launch a rocket.

One potential stumbling block for the ceasefire is the West Bank, where IDF operations continue as normal. Israel Radio reports that Defense Minister Amir Peretz insisted Tuesday that the truce only applied to the Gaza Strip and not to the West Bank. Peretz said that Israel was interested in giving the peace process a chance even though there were extremist factions who wanted to 'drag Israel into an escalation of the conflict.'

By and large, both sides appear to be largely abiding by the ceasefire. This, in turn, will allow the meetings planned for the next few days to go ahead.

Yedioth Ahronoth's website, Ynet, reports that an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is coming to the West Bank town of Jericho on Thursday for talks with Abbas.

Rice is accompanying U.S. President George W. Bush this week on his trip to neighboring Jordan to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Haaretz adds that Rice will also visit Jerusalem to meet with Olmert, but there seemed to be agreement that she would not try to broker a summit between Abbas and Olmert at this stage.

Also slated to arrive in Jerusalem in the next day or two is Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who aims to finalize details of the deal to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In his Sde Boker speech yesterday, Olmert said that Israel would release many Palestinian prisoners, including those sentenced to long prison terms, in exchange for Shalit's return. The latest figure being touted is 1,400 prisoners, who would be released in three stages. According to Arutz 7, the first group of prisoners would be freed immediately, then Shalit would be transferred to Egypt. Thereafter, a second group of prisoners would go free, and Shalit and would be transported back to Israel. The third group would walk free once Shalit is safely back in Israel.

Israel Radio reports that Peretz has already spoken with Rice and Suleiman by phone, and discussed with them ways to strengthen the Gaza Strip ceasefire.

The above text was written and compiled by Simon Spungin using newpaper, radio and wire reports, in English and Hebrew.

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