US Secretary of State Rice is to meet with Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas today, with follow on meetings with the Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council States. What are the prospects for meaningful progress towards reducing the violence in the region?
U.S. officials say the renewed attempt to promote peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is separate from efforts to bring stability to Iraq. But Rice's trip comes as U.S. officials have sought to persuade moderate Arab states to support U.S. endeavors in Iraq. Arab leaders have signaled that they expect the United States to demonstrate progress on building a Palestinian state, in part to assuage regional anger at the Iraq war
.WaPo
Despite the Administration's reluctance to link progress in resolving the Israeli/Palestine conflict to engaging support of moderate Arab states in the resolution of the Iraq crisis, it appears the issues are linked in the minds of the world community.
PM Ehud Olmert has taken the brave step of reining in the IDF in Gaza, in an attempt to sustain a fragile ease fire. Haaretz
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is to head a UNHCR mission to investigate the Beit Hanoun incident.BBC News
Is this a window of opportunity? What is the view from Israel?
Both the IDF and some Likud members of the Knesset do not support the cease fire.
IDF sources and several prominent Knesset members said the cease-fire will damage Israel's security by allowing Palestinian groups to continue smuggling weapons into Gaza. They said the truce would provide downtime for militants to train for attacks against Israel.
The IDF has been petitioning for a large-scale assault in Gaza.
At yesterday's meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Halutz criticized Olmert's government, saying the IDF was only partly involved in the decision to declare a cease-fire with the Palestinians. Halutz told the Knesset the cease-fire would help Palestinian terror groups in Gaza.
The IDF's military intelligence unit would have recommended against a cease-fire if asked, military sources told WND. Sources in the unit said they were not consulted regarding the cease-fire. WorldNetDailyWorld Net Daily
The poll below is taken from today's Jerusalem Post. Results can be found Here
Can Olmert overcome the deep political divisions within Israel on the possibility and necessity of progress towards peace? Can he exercise sufficient control over the IDF?
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