Tunnelling their way to agreement

摘要

Despite the blood stains en route, the Middle Eastern road map seemed at mid-week on the verge of extracting some sort of three-month ceasefire from all the Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two militant Islamist movements. A further agreement, between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), is hoped to follow, under which the Israeli army will withdraw from the areas it re-conquered in Gaza and Bethlehem during the 33-month intifada.