Sunday, August 13, 2006

Israel's cabinet votes for ceasefire 24-0

As I expected, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously to accept the UN mandated ceasefire; the only disenting vote was ex-defence minister Shaul Mofaz, who abstained. Since Olmert already took away his ministry and essentially cut him off from any real input, he probably felt free to not toe the party line.

The ceasefire goes into effect Monday 0800 hours GMT.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert and his government are facing heavy domestic opposition for accepting a ceasefire that ties the hands of the IDF and does nothing to end the threat of Hezbollah except to establish a powerless UNFIL force of `observers'.

Olmert was quoted as saying that the UN ceasefire was `a good deal for Israel.' I'm not sure if anyone bothered to ask him why.

Foreign minister Tzipi Livni said: "The decision is good for Israel... it can lead to the real change in the Middle East that we have all been waiting for."

She said that "The world now understands that Israel will not accept a terrorist organization on our border firing upon our citizens. We achieved most of our goals. If it's implemented, the change has been dramatic."

I will make note of those remarks, Madame Minister. They may come back to haunt you in the not too distant future.

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