Three Reasons Why the Israel-Gaza Ceasefire Won't Last

• John Judis
• November 21, 2012

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr has announced a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. It's good news that the fighting will stop. But aside from the immediate cessation of hostilities there's little to cheer about. Here are three reasons why in the absence of considerable outside intervention, it's only a matter of time until war breaks out again.
A comprehensive peace agreement is not in sight: Peace in the former Palestine rests not only on a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but on a comprehensive agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There is little question that the Palestinian Authority government on the West Bank would welcome such an agreement along the lines of the [Bill] Clinton parameters that were drafted at the end of his term after the failure at Camp David. But Netanyahu’s government and Hamas have both rejected any such agreement.