By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--November 22, 2012
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"CAIRO (Reuters) -- Following is the verbatim English text of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza that was reached Wednesday with Egyptian mediation. The text was distributed by the Egyptian presidency. Agreement of Understanding For a Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip
Will Israelis be welcomed in Gaza and Gazans allowed to visit Israel? Ominously the issue has already raised its head before the parties have even started negotiating. In Cairo, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said all the border crossings between Gaza and Israel had to be opened - not just the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt "The [ceasefire] document stipulates the opening of the crossings, all the crossings, and not just Rafah," Mr Meshaal told a news conference in Cairo. The Understanding certainly does not contain the word "all". The lawyers will have a field day arguing the meaning of this clause in the Understanding. Mr Meshall is no doubt well aware of the furore over the meaning of the words " in Palestine " used in the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and Winston Churchill's explanation that those words did not mean "all of Palestine" when considering the recognition conferred on the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home "in Palestine" He may also recall the different interpretations of the meaning of the word "territory" used in Security Council Resolution 242. The semantic war is still alive and kicking as a result of this shoddily drafted document.Israel is clearly not to be restrained in the same way as the Palestinian factions. A draft of the document leaked to the BBC indicated the word "shall" was originally inserted in relation to Israel - but has been changed in the above text to "should". As a result the need to first identify those firing rockets from Gaza as being "Palestinian factions" acting in breach of the Understanding will not be necessary to stop Israel retaliating without itself being in breach of the Understanding.
- The document is not an Agreement but merely an Understanding.
- The parties to the Understanding are not specifically identified nor has the document been signed by any parties that are supposed to be bound by the Understanding. How does Egypt ensure that it has obtained the assurances from each Palestinian faction that each of them "has agreed to the terms of the document?
- What constitutes a "Palestinian faction"?
- Israel "should stop" all hostilities - but all Palestinian factions "shall stop" all hostilities.
- Whilst Israel is to stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land, sea and air - the Palestinian factions are not so limited from engaging in hostilities from the sea, the Sinai peninsular, the West Bank or even from terrorist cells located in Israel. If any such hostilities occur - Israel would be precluded from retaliating in Gaza under the terms of the Understanding.
- Persons or groups located in the Gaza Strip such as Al Qaeda, Iranian or other non- Palestinian factions are not bound by the Understanding.
- Opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents free movements provide fertile ground for disagreement.
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com