The Security Cabinet is meeting at this hour to discuss a proposal to declare a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza after Hamas has refused truce initiatives. "This unilateral ceasefire does not foresee a withdrawal" by the Israeli army, said Obama Hemdan, Hamas's Lebanon representative. "As long as it remains in Gaza, resistance and confrontation will continue." The government is expected to approve the plan, which calls for the IDF to remain in Gaza but to halt attacks on the Hamas terror infrastructure. Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to lay the political groundwork for the unilateral truce Saturday during a visit to IDF paratroopers. "After three weeks, we are very close to securing the objectives and complementing them with diplomatic agreements," the Defense Minister said. He added that the IDF must "continue its operational activity and be ready for any possible development." Meanwhile, negotiations continue in Egypt concerning security along the border between Egypt and Gaza and conditions for the re-opening of the border in the divided city of Rafiah. In Washington, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed with visiting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni guarantees for stopping smuggling along the border. However, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, who questioned what is different from previous commitments that have not stopped smuggling, "Well… we are not responsible for, you know, smuggling happening or not. We are able to participate in robust ways to assist others as well in making sure that smuggling, resupply of Hamas, does not take place. "There are a lot of different moving parts to this problem. And we have been engaged on this problem for a while. I think all of you understand that we sent a team to Egypt – Army Corps of Engineers – to look specifically at tunnels. There are other aspects to this: the air aspect, the sea aspect to this. But we think we have the beginnings of that." The U.S. signed a "memo of understanding" with Israel on Friday that the American government "will work cooperatively…in the international community to prevent the supply of arms and related materiel to terrorist organizations that threaten either party, with a particular focus on the supply of arms, related materiel and explosives into Gaza to Hamas and other terrorist organizations."
