"Every cease-fire has two sides" said today former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom activist. "A unilateral arrogant proclamation by Olmert and Barak, in front of the TV cameras, did not stop the shooting of missiles at the Negev, and it still continued this morning. Only when Hamas added a unilateral cease-fire of its own was a bilateral cease-fire created in practice, enabling the shooting to stop in practice.

At long last we have come to a moment of sanity, an end to the terrible blood-bath which shocked people all over the world and aroused them to come out in protest on the streets of cities across the globe – including on the streets of Israeli cities. But the bloodshed might burst out, even more terrible, should the government persist in the folly of ignoring the main fact: Hamas was and remains the dominant power in the Gaza Strip, even when its military power was damaged – due to a strong base of support among the Palestinian population. There is no solution – either to the immediate and very urgent problems or to the longer range – without talking to Hamas, either through mediators or directly.

Israeli troops must be immediately removed from the Gaza Strip, the siege removed, and the passages between the Strip and the outer world opened widely. The inhabitants of Gaza, like those of every other place in the world, have the full right to leave their country and return to it by land, sea, and air, revive and develop their economy by exporting their produce and importing whatever they need, without asking for anybody's permission.

Accelerated negotiations must be opened in order to return swiftly to their homes and families the Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit, captured by Hamas, and a significant number of Palestinians prisoners in the Israeli prisons. The government must pay the price fixed long ago for the release of Shalit, and the entire terrible war in Gaza had not changed it. The hypocritical argument of "blood on the hands", raised against such a deal, must be removed from the vocabularies once and for all. At least half of the 1300 Palestinians killed by the State of Israel in the past weeks were unarmed civilians, including hundreds of children. From now on, the term "blood on the hands" in the mouth of an Israeli politician or military officer would be a sad mocker of simple effrontery".

Contact: Uri Avenry avnery@actcom.co.il Adam Keller adam@gush-shalom.org