Possible breaktrough in Gaza?

Yesterday,there was some noise about Hamas offering to end qassam rocket attacks on Israel in exchange for a ceasefire.

PSYCH! Not really!

Today nine Qassam rockets were fired at southern Israel from Gaza.

In the morning, seven rockets were fired, causing damage to hothouses at a kibbutz in the western Negev.

Hours later, two more rockets were fired, one falling in the town of Sderot and the other close to Kibbutz Nir Am. But no casualties.

Now, this is from Ha'aretz so I take it with a grain of salt, but apparently there IS some momentum that could lead to a ceasefire on the Gaza front.

The Hamas leadership in Gaza is supposedly ready now to halt Qassam fire as part of a cease-fire deal that would involve an end to IDF action in the Gaza Strip. Senior members of Fatah made similar claims Saturday. That also includes the setting up of a unity government for the Palestinians, which would involve Hamas giving up a substantial amount of power if it's true.

Apparently the Egyptians have been working with Hamas and Fatah on the plan, which consists of freeing abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, a joint cease-fire and the cessation of IDF assassinations in the Gaza Strip. Apparently Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders are getting nervous about their health if this keeps up.

No news on whether the Hamas political leader in Damascus, Khaled Meshal, would accept this deal..or if Hamas could enforce even if he did. Islamic Jihad almost certainly would not.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is pushing for acceptance; he met Hamas parliament members and leaders in Gaza, urging them to accept the deal before American Secretary of State Condoleezza gets there tomorrow. No wonder, as he and Fatah are the prime beneficiaries and Hamas relinquishing could get the all important aid dollars flowing again.

(Appropriate quote fromJoe Pesci in the Mafia movie `Casino'.."always the dollars, always the f**king dollars.")

Egypt is continuing to lobby Hamas leaders overseas and in Gaza to free Shalit as part of a comprehensive cease-fire deal.

Dr. Salah al-Bardawil, head of the Hamas parliamentary faction, told Haaretz that if Israel stops its actions in Gaza, most Palestinian groups would accept a cease-fire.

He added, however, that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh already proposed a unilateral cease-fire and Israel rejected it.

Maybe that was because it didn't involve freeing Shalit and numerous Palestinian factions refused to go along with a cease-fire anyway!

Hamas leaders in Gaza are especially interested in not getting any negotiations lumped in with anything Hezbolah is doing.Bardawil stressed that there is no cooperation between Hamas and Hezbollah about the prisoner exchange negotiations.

"We don't intend to reach a joint deal. Hezbollah entered the picture after Hamas was already in it, they want their prisoners and we have ours," he said.

Funny, that's not what Hezbollah's Sheik Nasrallah said before! Could the rats be leaving Hezbollah's sinking ship?

Stay tuned..