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By Dylan Matthews
Israel hasn't agreed to a ceasefire yet, of course, but this looks like progress:
The United States and Israel plan to sign an agreement on the final working day of the Bush administration intended to convince the Jewish state to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas militants in Gaza and end its military operations there.There doesn't seem to be any actual enforcement mechanism in the deal, either in the form of border guarantees from the Egyptians or of a multinational UN or NATO force to patrol the border. Without either of those, the chances of a substantial tamp-down on smuggling seem low to nonexistent. But if the deal has its intended effect anyway and Israel ends the assault, all the better.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are to conclude the deal on Friday to assure Israel that additional steps will be taken to end weapons smuggling into Gaza and prevent Hamas from re-arming.
