SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – Israeli, Palestinian and international negotiators pledged Sunday to continue peace talks launched last year by President Bush, even though the quest for peace will certainly outlast his administration.
But future talks will be held in an increasingly uncertain terrain, with the prospect of a hawk coming to power in Israel’s February parliamentary elections and deeply divided Palestinian factions controlling the West Bank and Gaza. It is also unclear how high Mideast peacemaking will figure on Barack Obama’s agenda.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers scrambled Wednesday to contain fallout from the worst fighting since a truce was declared five months ago, but a flare-up later in the day threatened to unravel it anew.
Gaza militants pounded southern Israel early Wednesday with dozens of rockets to avenge raids a day earlier that killed six militants, but the guns quickly fell silent with neither side appearing to have much to gain from renewed hostilities.

TEL AVIV — Palestinian militants unleashed a barrage of missiles at Israeli towns on Wednesday in revenge for a military incursion into the Gaza Strip that killed at least six, marking the first serious test of a 4 ½ month calm between Hamas and Israel.
Despite the sudden outburst, Israel and Hamas signaled Wednesday they prefer to hold to an Egyptian ceasefire, brokered this summer that halted daily cross-border attacks in Israel from Gaza, the coastal strip of 1.5 million Palestinians controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.

GAZA — The grooms were resplendent in white shirts while the brides all wore black. At a sports stadium one recent October evening, thousands of Palestinians — 300 newly married couples along with relatives and friends — gathered for a mass wedding celebration, the 10th here this year courtesy of Hamas.

The Qassam rocket is a simple steel rocket filled with explosives, produced by Hamas. Three models have been used. They are all free-flying artillery rockets lacking any guidance system.
Qassams are sometimes referred to as “homemade” or “primitive”, but require “both expertise and dedicated locations to manufacture”.

Palestinian terrorists on Thursday morning violated the fragile truce with Israel once more, firing a Kassam rocket from the Gaza Strip at the western Negev town of Sderot.
Following the attack, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the closure of crossings for the transferal of goods between Israel and Gaza.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A boat carrying 27 activists sailed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, braving stormy seas and defying an Israeli naval blockade to call attention to Israeli sanctions on the Hamas-controlled territory.
Israel had threatened to block the boat but did not interfere, and it sailed unhindered into a Gaza harbor. It was greeted by Hamas policemen and a small group of Palestinian activists.