The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is still holding although the reconstruction of large parts of Gaza will take much longer than the week it took to pound it with rockets. And of course, there is also the loss of human life with a final death toll of 163 Palestinians killed, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children. Despite the deaths and destruction in Gaza, Hamas emerged emboldened from this conflict. It came out stronger, consolidated its control over Gaza and took on Israel more boldly than ever before, firing rockets farther than ever before. On the other hand, Israel emerged from the conflict with no real gains. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's government is being strongly criticized domestically for not achieving its goal of reining in the resistance and destroying Hamas' stockpile of strategic weapons. Hamas may yet also manage to get an easing of the Gaza economic blockade if a more comprehensive deal can be reached. According to a text of the agreement, after a 24-hour cooling-off period, the ceasefire calls for “opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents' free movement.” Israel will not all at once lift the blockade of Gaza it put up and enforced after Hamas won a Palestinian election in 2006, but if the deal covers the opening of all of the territory's border crossings with Israel and Egypt, it could amount to the biggest easing of Israel's blockade of Gaza since it shut off the territory from much of the world. Along with Hamas, one of the biggest winners emerging from the crisis was Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi whose mediation between Israel and Hamas elevated his standing on the world stage. Because Morsi is from the Muslim Brotherhood, he found it relatively easy to persuade Hamas, a Brotherhood offshoot, to agree to a ceasefire. It was his stand regarding Israel that was surprising. Although Morsi did not deal directly with Israel, his ability to help stop Hamas from firing at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem meant he became the de facto defender of Israel, a stunning policy position, and reversal, taken by an Islamist leader. But Morsi risks his new found reputation by agreeing that Egypt will be the sponsor of the deal, meaning that each side has only Egypt to complain to in case of violations. How many times can Egypt tell Hamas, the leader of a people under occupation, not to fire on the occupier? If the deal falls apart — whichever side is to blame — Egypt could face damage to its credibility or strained ties with one side or the other. This is the first time in history that Hamas and Israel have made an agreement and again this was to Hamas' advantage. The ceasefire agreement gave it the same status as Israel and put it on an equal footing. It forced Israel into respecting Hamas and acknowledging it as a legitimate political and military force.
