The Shaky Cease Fire

The truce industry: A decade of shaky cease-fires between Israel and the Palestinians

Talks of an Egypt-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hamas withered Wednesday after a deadly bus bombing in Tel Aviv and an onslaught of Israeli strikes.

GENEVA — Talk of an Egypt-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hamas withered Wednesday after a deadly bus bombing in Tel Aviv and an onslaught of Israeli strikes.

The promise of a cease-fire was cold comfort to both parties, which have seen their fair share of truces torn up over the last decade.

Indeed, the history of Egypt-brokered cease-fires in the last few years has been spotty at best, constantly falling victim to tit-for-tat violence that seems to have a way of getting out of hand fast.

Both Hamas and Israel have refused to speak face to face, complicating any chance for a negotiated solution and leaving Egypt as the sole intermediary, particularly since Israel’s evacuation from Gaza in 2005.