Israeli-Hamas truce: an opportunity in disguise

Permit Hamas to build a floating port off the coast of Gaza and guarantee naval passage between Gaza and Northern Cyprus, monitored by Turkey; and

Improve and eventually normalize relations with Egypt, maintain an open border crossing, and provide the Palestinians an opening to the Egyptian market.

Finally, given the growing tension between the Arab Sunni world and Shiite Iran, Hamas's leadership concluded that regardless of its closeness to Iran, it must cast their lot with their Sunni brethren.

For Israel, the truce would prevent another war, and serves to:

End the firing of rockets on Israel that cause tremendous disruption in the lives of Israelis;

Require Hamas to stop digging new tunnels to smuggle weapons and prevent any other extremist groups from attacking Israel;

Keep Gaza and the West Bank physically separated, thereby deepening the gulf between the PA and Hamas, following the dictum of "divide and conquer," which also explains why Netanyahu refused to negotiate with the Palestinians' 'unity government' but does now with Hamas alone;

Ease the mounting international pressure on Israel to gradually remove the blockade, as most EU member states and the US want to see an end to suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza; and

Allow Israel to reduce the operational cost of maintaining military vigilance on the Gaza border, which heavily taxes its fighting forces, and do so without giving up any territory and potentially saving lives.

Finally, being that Turkey has always been against the blockade and is now directly involved in the negotiations, the truce would dramatically improve Israel-Turkey bilateral relations, which have been severely damaged by (among other things) the continuation of the Israeli blockade.

I maintain that the PA's rejection of the prospective Israeli-Hamas truce is completely misplaced. Indeed, regardless of the political leaning of any Israeli government, it would not negotiate with the Palestinians and give up more territory as long as violent hostilities remain common and Hamas's threat is persistent.

Ironically, PA President Abbas, who has consistently supported any Israeli-Hamas ceasefire, has now come out against it because the negotiations did not involve the PA and because of his fear that the truce would usurp the PA's political authority over Gaza, which does not exist in reality.