AS USUAL NO ONE WANTS TO GO FIRST

Bombs fall on Lebanon. Rockets scour the north of Israel. People live in misery in Gaza, but the boys just keep being asshole boys, and chant in unison,"you do it, no you do it, no you do it." Meanwhile, people die! Come on guys, someone step up to the plate already.

The following is from aL Hayat al Jadida & Al Ayyam Newspapers.

A possible agreement to end the Israeli attack on Gaza

Assistants to President Abbas and activists said President Abbas informed the activists that Israel is ready to halt its attack on Gaza Strip if they agree to stop firing rockets on Israel. Officials said this represents a change in the position of Israel which started its attack last month to liberate the Israeli soldier Shalit who was captured by three factions in an attack across the borders on June 25, 2006. Factions said Abbas informed them that Israel proposed this through a foreign government during meetings held in Gaza. President Abbas didn’t name the country which conveyed the proposal. Khader Habib, leading figure in Islamic Jihad, said President Abbas talked about Israeli readiness to stop its aggression on the Palestinians in exchange for halt of firing rockets from Gaza Strip. Habib who participated in the meeting said the deal didn’t include the issue of the soldier. The spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry refrained from talking about specific proposals but said that any solution to the crisis must include the release of Shalit. A Fatah official said any agreement on a ceasefire depends on Israeli commitment level to the ceasefire. Osama al-Mzayni, Hamas leading figure, said any discussion on a possible ceasefire will be possible only when Israel ends all its attacks in terms of incursions and assassinations.

In the meantime, a leading figure in Hamas said the movement received many offers, including the offer from Egypt, and other offers to end the issue of the soldier Shalit, but all didn’t rise to the level accepted by the movement and by the Palestinian people. Osama al-Mzayni said the package deal that was published in al-Ayyam newspaper does not rise to the aspirations of the Palestinian people, setting the condition of concurrent release of Shalit and the Palestinian prisoners. When asked if there is a possibility to make a separation between the Palestinian and Lebanese tracks on the issue of the prisoners, he said his movement does not mind separating the Palestinian track from the Lebanese track, but pointed out that his movement has not decided yet whether the tracks should remain together or separated. He said: There is no doubt that the nature of the Palestinian situation is different from the Lebanese situation, we say that the issue of soldier Shalit will only be subject to the interests of our heroic prisoners.