Should we be cynical?

Palestinians claim that such attacks are common and go unpunished by the Israelis. And while IJ has said it would respect the truce in Gaza, it also stressed that it would not hesitate to retaliate against any attacks upon Palestinians in the West Bank. Since these attacks would most likely come from Gaza, it will blow the truce apart.

And now, for this very reason, just six days into the truce, it is already in jeopardy. On Monday, June 23, the Israeli Defence Force killed two Palestinians in the West Bank. One was identified as an Islamic Jihad militant, the other as a student, though Israel claims that both men were armed. The very next day IJ, true to its warning, fired two rockets on the Israeli town of Sderot. There were no casualties but Israel nonetheless declared this a “grave violation of the ceasefire”. In retaliation Israel has said that it would re-impose economic sanctions against Gaza.

Second, the ongoing saga of Corporal Gilad Shalit continues with no end in sight. For his part, Shalit’s father, Noam Shalit expressed anger and even threatened legal action to halt the implementation of the truce, claiming that it does not guarantee the release of his son. "Olmert told us he does not have a contract that requires him to free any citizen from captivity … that is not acceptable to me, and I don't think it is acceptable to anyone in this country."

While Olmert insists that the release of Shalit is a vital and non-negotiable condition to the success of the truce, Hamas maintains that his release is dependant on the release of Palestinian militants held by Israel.

This seems impossibility as Israel has already expressed extreme reluctance to free these men since many of them were directly involved in the deaths of Israelis. The release of these militants would be viewed by many, not only as a grave mistake and a threat to the lives of many Israelis, but as submission to the demands of Hamas, which is still officially considered a terrorist organisation by Israel.

And on it goes.