MIDDLE EAST:THE TACIT ceasefire between Hamas and Israel ended yesterday when Palestinian militants launched a volley of rockets and Israel responded with an air raid on Gaza.
After seven days of relative calm between Hamas and Israel, rival Palestinian groups indicated they would no longer support Hamas's proposal for a ceasefire. Islamic Jihad, a group backed by Iran, said it launched 17 rockets from Gaza as an "initial response" to Israel's raid in the West Bank in which four fighters were killed the night before.
The fresh violence came within hours of Hamas's announcement on Wednesday that it and other groups, such as Islamic Jihad, were seeking a ceasefire with Israel through Egyptian-mediated talks. But Hamas has yet to clarify whether it would withdraw from the US-sanctioned negotiations.
The Palestinian Authority, considered by Israel as moderate, said Israelis and Palestinians were "at a crossroad" in the peace process. Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian Authority negotiator, said the choice was between "the paths of democracy and extremism".
"It will be a major disaster not only on the PA but on the region if there's no deal by the end of 2008," Mr Erekat said of the deadline set by US president George Bush for concluding a peace deal through the Annapolis process.
That is a view shared by some others in the international community. "The situation will move to a denouement of one sort or another over the next two months," a European diplomatic source said. But Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, said the conflict would intensify before calm was achieved. Referring to Israel's raid in Bethlehem, during which four Islamic Jihad fighters were assassinated, Mr Barak said it "proved once more that Israel will hunt down murderers with Jewish blood on their hands".
At an Islamic summit in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, yesterday the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, criticised Israel for using "disproportionate and excessive force" against Palestinians.
With Mr Bush due to visit the region in two months, international pressure for a political solution is likely to grow. The surge in violence that began at the end of last month came as Israel's blockade on Gaza, which was meant to curb the rockets, entered its eighth month. The fighting escalated as Hamas launched long-range missiles at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. -