Just as 12 Palestinian factions agreed this week to reach a “comprehensive and mutual” ceasefire with Israel, facts on the ground show no indication of its fruition. On April 30, after two-day deliberations in Cairo under Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, between Palestinian factions, a ceasefire agreement was brokered, which would ostensibly begin in the Gaza Strip and eventually spread to the West Bank.

The two Islamic movements, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, who were also present at the talks, agreed to the ceasefire, on condition that Israel halts its attacks and lifts the siege off Gaza. The agreement also calls for the opening of Gaza crossings. However, the two groups also said the Palestinians would do their part but that the “ball was now in Israel’s court.”

A day later, Egypt handed the draft proposal for the ceasefire deal to Israel, which consequently did not mention Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier in captivity in Gaza since June, 2006. While Israel did not officially reject or accept the proposal, on May 1, spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry Arie Mekel announced that Israel would consider a ceasefire offer under three conditions only: if Palestinian rockets and mortars fired on southern Israeli towns stopped; if attacks inside Israel and on the border with Gaza were halted; and if arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip was brought to a complete halt. Without these three conditions being met, Mekel concluded, there would be no way Israel could consent to a deal.

Israel apparently has a way of making preemptive strikes on any prospect for peace or calm. On May 2, just as Israel was being pressured by the Quartet and even the United States to make more efforts towards easing Palestinian life, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni issued a warning to the Palestinians. While in London for the donor country meeting, Livni said the PA must ensure that “terrorists” do not exploit any Israeli easing of measures in the West Bank. According to Livni, Israel has already removed 60 dirt barricades and one checkpoint along with issuing 5,000 additional permits for Palestinians workers to enter Israel.

Still, Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad maintained that if Israel did not curb settlement activity, negotiations would most certainly fail, adding that the Palestinian Authority has lived up to its commitments including reforming the financial sector. During the donor conference, Fayyad also announced that the PA would need $1 billion to sustain its budget this year.

On the sidelines of the donor meeting, the Quartet Committee also met, chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. According to UN statistics, there are currently 612 Israeli roadblocks still in place throughout the West Bank.

The Quartet also called for a halt to West Bank settlement building and called on Israel to dismantle settlement outposts built after 2001. Even US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chided Israel for its continued settlement building in the West Bank, stressing that settlement expansion does not equal a fait accompli that the settlements would remain in Israeli hands under a final settlement.

“Ultimately the best answer is to determine what's going to be in Israel and what's going to be in Palestine,” Rice said in London.

Rice also warned that if the parties involved do not do some serious work, the window for a two-state solution would not be “open forever,” saying that it is getting narrower and narrower.

The Palestinians and Israelis are seemingly still light years away from reaching a final settlement to the conflict as indicated by media reports from both sides. On April 29, Israeli sources reported that chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qurei allegedly threw a final status proposal to the floor in anger when Livni presented it to him in a recent negotiations meeting. Reports on the same day in the Palestinian media also said official Palestinian government sources denied that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had presented Abbas with a similar plan.

According to the reports, Israel’s plan entails Israel maintaining control over the main West Bank settlement blocs, the Holy Basin in Jerusalem including part of Silwan, the Buraq (Western) Wall and the Jordan Valley. There would also be no right of return for Palestinian refugees.

One development has been the announcement that an additional 500 Palestinian security personnel will be deployed to the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Jenin security commander Suleiman Omran said the new deployment was part of the PA security plan to reinstate Palestinian security services in West Bank cities. Three hundred of the 500 policemen will be part of the elite presidential guard.

Unfortunately, the residents of the Gaza Strip are not feeling the diplomatic efforts being made across the border in Egypt. At least 10 people were killed in the Gaza Strip this week. The worst day by far was on April 28 when a mother and four of her children were killed in Beit Hanoun. Two others were also killed that day.

Muyasar Abu Mutaq 40, was having breakfast with her children when an Israeli tank shell hit her house killing her and Ruweida 6, Saleh 5, Hana 3 and Ahmad, 10 months. The raid, which began at dawn, also resulted in the death of Al Quds Brigades activist Ibrahim Hajouj 20, and Muath Al Akhras 21 from the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades. Nine others were injured.

Israel, not interested in the bad media it receives when it kills innocent Palestinians, immediately placed the deaths of mother and children on the conscience of Hamas. While its spokespeople said they regretted civilian deaths and that it would open an investigation into the incident, it said Hamas was ultimately responsible for the ongoing fighting in the Strip.

Unsurprisingly, on May 2, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that a “video clip” had surfaced, which exonerates the Israeli army from the deaths of the Abu Muteq family. While the so-called video was not made available to the public, the article said the family was killed from a “secondary” explosion. According to this new version, the shell was fired at Ibrahim Hajouj who was carrying explosives and ammunition in his backpack. This second explosion is what killed the family.

That same day Israeli forces also entered the central Gaza Strip town of Deir Al Balah, arrested 40 residents and leveled vast areas of land.

On May 1, 40-year old Nafez Mansour, an Al Qassam Brigades commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah while 55-year old Mohammed Abu Daqqa died after sustaining a bullet to the head in Khan Younis. A day later 40-year old Osama Al Hobi of the Islamic Jihad’s Al Quds Brigades died of wounds sustained on April 30 in an Israeli incursion into Gaza City.

At the beginning of the week, 14-year old Mariam Maroud from Beit Lahiya died during an Israeli incursion into her town. Several others were injured including three of her family members.

Gaza residents were also made to endure intermittent electricity cuts throughout the week as Israel continued to ban fuel from entering the Strip. As a result, on April 30 Gazan authorities warned of a health hazard as sewage water flowed through the streets after pumps had to be turned off because of lack of fuel. According to officials in Gaza, over 60 percent of sewage pumping stations were forced closed because of the fuel shortage.

Moreover, on May 1, a report by the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Gaza’s Water Authority has been dumping millions of liters of sewage water into the Mediterranean Sea, citing Israel’s blockade as the main reason Gazans are unable to properly treat sewage water. The report warned that the contaminated seawater poses health risks, not only for Palestinians in Gaza but for Israeli beaches into which the sewage water flows.

Unfortunately, some Gazans seem to be reverting back to taking up arms against their fellow Palestinians to resolve family disputes. On May 2, Palestinian press reports confirmed that officer in the presidential guard Muheddin Abu Kas died after sustaining gunshot wounds in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City shot by an unknown assailant.

Earlier that morning, Abdel Raouf Abu Thabet was killed by unidentified gunmen in the Rafah district. According to hospital sources, the killings were a result of a feud between the two families.