Region

TEHRAN — Like an increasing number of Iranians, Mahnaz divorced after marrying young because of the pressures of a conservative society that she feels often ignores a relationship's most important ingredient: love.

Now single, she looks back with sadness on the collapse of her marriage, but bears no anger towards her parents who made the arrangements seven years ago.

She was only 21 at the time, and her feelings barely entered the equation; marriage was what her mother and father expected.

"I was far too young. I didn't know what I was doing. From the first meeting with my husband's family I had a bad feeling about it," she says.

There was no emotional bond with her husband at the start and it failed to grow.

Mahnaz's experience is becoming more common. Iran's average divorce rate peaked at 21 per cent last year, with big cities showing far higher rates.

One in three marriages fails in the capital Tehran; in its northern quarter, home to the more affluent Western-leaning metropolitan elite, the figure is more than 40 per cent.

The official reasons for splitting up are a lack of affection between couples, family interference, domestic violence and drug addiction.

But many young people cite strict social mores as a heavy burden. On the other side, devout families blame a Western cultural invasion that they say has eroded traditional Islamic values.

The signs of youthful rebellion are indisputable: 80 per cent of female high school students have boyfriends and "even sexual contact", according to a parliamentary research report published in June.

For those of marrying age, the pressure to conform can be suffocating.

"I sometimes feel I am thinking about my parents more than myself," says Fereshteh, 28, who has been going out with her boyfriend, Amir, for two years.

Prying eyes

"They first asked me if I was going to marry him after one year," she says, admitting to doubts even over touching her suitor's hand, as such affectionate contact is forbidden outside marriage.

For young Iranians, at first glance, finding love appears no harder than anywhere else: people go on dates at coffee shops, cinemas or restaurants and meet at parties. And just like everywhere else, many men and women struggle to connect with someone, despite their best efforts.

But getting to know each other is merely one part of a complex ritual. What lies beneath is usually deep parental involvement in a country where even for young adults the family is core; most singles live at home.

This leaves many dating couples desperate for a place to meet away from prying eyes. In something of a throwback to more genteel times, public parks are one of the most popular places to talk one-on-one.

Such quaint courtship, however, has competition. Even though online dating sites are banned, the Internet plays a role.

Fereshteh met Amir after sending him a friend request on Facebook. When asked if she was what he had expected when they first met after two days of online chatting, Amir cheekily replies: "No, she was better."

Despite being six years older than the average Iranian bride, Fereshteh is not yet prepared to commit.

"I need more time. There are so many other things I want to do," she says. The financial costs — Iranian weddings are often lavish affairs — are also an important factor.

Hardship caused by crippling sanctions in recent years has led many couples to delay tying the knot in Iran. And the Mehrieh, a dowry that is traditionally paid in gold coins, is also daunting.

"It can be ridiculously expensive," Amir says.

 Wedlock not for everyone 

Average ages for marriage are rising despite a government appeal for more unions and more children. And some couples want neither.

"It's not for me," says Mina, 32, who has been with her boyfriend Pedram for nine years, refusing his marriage proposal early in their relationship. She also does not want children.

Mina and Pedram keep their own apartments but regularly cohabit, a practice that is becoming more common despite being looked down upon by many neighbours and landlords.

"Our borders of freedom are these four walls," says Mina, noting her own mother's disapproval of her decision to remain single.

"Living alone is seen as no big deal for an Iranian man, but for a woman it is very difficult," she said.

Tradition is seen as the foundation of Iranian society, but the issue of sex outside marriage has become the elephant in the room for the authorities, who acknowledge a problem.

The best way "to resolve the sexual issues of young Iranians" is to make temporary marriage easier, say parliament's researchers, even though the practice is often seen as shabby.

Such arrangements under Shiite Islam, known as "sigheh" in Persian, can address "the sexual ills" of illicit intercourse, the researchers argued in controversial recommendations that may fall on deaf ears.

For Mahnaz, who married young only to regret it, cohabiting is the answer, especially given the segregation of the sexes throughout school years, which can increase the risk of picking the wrong partner.

"It is unhealthy to keep boys and girls apart for so long, so if there was the opportunity to live with someone first I would take it," she says.

CAIRO — Egypt's ousted and jailed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi refused to answer a prosecutor's questions about allegations that he leaked classified documents — some related to the army's budget — to Qatar via the Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcaster, Egypt's official news agency reported Thursday.

If the charges are referred to court, it would be the fourth case under way against Morsi, who was overthrown by the military last summer amid mass protests against his yearlong rule.

According to Egypt's Middle East News Agency, Morsi refused to answer any of the prosecutor's questions during a four-hour interrogation session held inside Borg Al Arab prison, near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Morsi's response to each question was: "I am the legitimate leader," MENA said.

Morsi and other individuals are accused of passing state security files to Qatar, a close ally of his Muslim Brotherhood group, "in a way that harms national security", judicial officials said late Wednesday.

Egypt's General Prosecutor Hisham Barakat ordered Morsi and seven other detainees held for 15 days in reference to the case, the officials said, adding that other suspects remain at large. The officials spoke late Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to reporters.

Morsi already faces charges of conspiring with foreign groups, inciting the murder of his opponents and orchestrating prison breaks during the 2011 uprising that toppled his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

Authorities claim to have uncovered a network of top Egyptian officials affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera employees and high-ranking Qatari officials who leaked the information, and tried to smuggle the original documents. Officials said the network intended to sell the original documents to Qatar for $1.5 million.

MENA said some of the documents included information about the army's secretive budget, a sensitive issue in Egypt. It added that Al Jazeera network already aired some of the leaked documents.

The case first came to light in March, when Egypt's Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim accused a presidential secretary, Amin El Serafi, of leaking documents from the safes of the presidential palace, and sending copies through his daughter and other Brotherhood members to an Arab country that supports the group, a veiled reference to Qatar. Ibrahim said the suspects aimed to disclose military secrets in order to destabilise Egypt.

He said that after Serafi's arrest, a Palestinian national who later worked as an Al Jazeera producer met with a senior editor for Al Jazeera, who arranged a meeting with top officials in the Arab country. He said a flight attendant belonging to the Brotherhood attempted to transfer the original files outside Egypt.

According to MENA, authorities found the original documents in three large suitcases.

The Muslim Brotherhood won a series of electoral victories after the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak, culminating in Morsi's election the following year, when he became the country's first freely elected leader. His year in power proved divisive, however and the military toppled him following massive protests demanding his resignation.

After Morsi was overthrown, authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters, leaving hundreds killed and tens of thousands in detention, including many senior Brotherhood members. 

The group's spiritual leader Mohammed Badie has been sentenced to death and to life in jail, in separate verdicts that could still be appealed. The government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group late last year.

The ouster of the Islamist leader strained relations between Egypt and Qatar, as Cairo accuses the rich Gulf nation and its Al Jazeera network of supporting Morsi and his group. The network has denied accusations of biased reporting.

In June, three Al Jazeera journalists were sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison for promoting or belonging to the Brotherhood and falsifying their coverage of pro-Morsi protests in order to harm Egypt's security.

The trial of the three — Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed — was condemned by rights groups as politically motivated.

KIRKUK, Iraq — Iraq was massing forces Wednesday for an operation to break the two-month jihadist siege of the Shiite Turkmen town of Amerli, amid growing fears for residents short of food and water.

The planned counter-offensive comes amid reports that US President Barack Obama is weighing a decision to authorise air strikes and aid drops in the area to help around 12,000 people trapped in the northern town.

According to a civilian volunteer commander, thousands of Shiite militiamen from groups including Asaib Ahl Al Haq and the Badr Organisation are gathering in the Tuz Khurmatu area of Salaheddin province, north of Amerli, in preparation for a battle to break the siege.

And an army lieutenant general said that security forces were mobilising in the Jabal Hamreen area, south of Amerli, to launch an attack.

Iraqi aircraft have begun targeting positions of Islamic State (IS) jihadists around Amerli, carrying out nine strikes on Tuesday, an officer said.

Time is running out for the mainly Shiite Turkmen residents of Amerli, who face danger both because of their Shiite faith, which jihadists consider heresy, and their resistance against the militants, which has drawn deadly retribution elsewhere.

There is "no possibility of evacuating them so far", and only limited humanitarian assistance is reaching the town, said Eliana Nabaa, the spokeswoman for the UN mission in Iraq.

UN Iraq envoy Nickolay Mladenov has called for an urgent effort to help Amerli, saying residents who have been under siege for more than two months face a "possible massacre" if it is overrun.

Obama 'planning coalition' 

People trapped in the city are suffering from a major shortage of food and water and there is no electricity.

The New York Times reported that Obama is "nearing a decision" on authorising strikes and aid drops in the Amerli area.

The paper added that Obama is also seeking to piece together an international coalition for potential military action in Syria, where the US has begun reconnaissance flights to track IS militants.

The US focus on Syria comes after President Bashar Assad's regime said on Monday it was willing to work with the international community, including Washington, to tackle extremist fighters.

But American officials said they did not plan to coordinate with Damascus on targeting IS militants in Syria, despite Syrian insistence that any military action on its soil must be discussed in advance.

International concern about IS has been rising after a lightning offensive by the group through parts of Iraq and a string of brutal abuses, including the murder of US journalist James Foley.

The mother of Steven Sotloff, another American journalist whom the jihadist group has threatened to kill if air strikes against it are not halted, on Wednesday appealed for IS to “not punish my son for matters he has no control over”.

A UN-mandated probe charged Wednesday that public executions, amputations, lashings and mock crucifixions have become a regular fixture in jihadist-controlled areas of Syria.

Public executions 

“In areas of Syria under [IS] control, particularly in the north and northeast of the country, Fridays are regularly marked by executions, amputations and lashings in public squares,” the independent Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation in Syria said.

Jihadists are also pushing residents, including children, to attend public executions by beheading or a shot to the head, it said.

“Executions in public spaces have become a common spectacle on Fridays,” said the report, which also accused Damascus of repeatedly using chemical weapons against civilians.

The US began air raids against IS in Iraq on August 8. At least nine countries have now committed to providing arms to Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga troops, who are fighting IS militants in north and east Iraq.

Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel put the number of countries on board at eight, while Kurdish regional President Massud Barzani said that Iran has provided arms and equipment as well, bringing the total to at least nine.

US Chairman of the Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff General Martin Dempsey has acknowledged that the IS group cannot be defeated “without addressing that part of the organisation that resides in Syria”.

Syria’s forces on Wednesday lost further ground to other rebels, who seized control of the Syrian crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a monitoring group said.

The takeover of the Quneitra crossing was led by Al Qaeda’s affiliate Al Nusra Front joined by a number of rebel groups, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“Heavy fighting with the Syrian army is continuing in the surrounding area,” said observatory director, Rami Abdel Rahman.

TEL AVIV — The third Gaza War in six years appears to have ended in another sort of tie, with both Israel and Hamas claiming the upper hand. Their questionable achievements have come at a big price, especially to long-suffering Palestinians in Gaza.

In a sense, Israel got what it wanted: Hamas stopped firing rockets in exchange for mostly vague promises and future talks. But the cost to Israel was huge: Beyond the 70 people killed — all but six of them soldiers — the economy has been set back, the tourism season destroyed, its people rattled for 50 days and its global standing pummeled by images of devastation in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces bristling from people who sense that Hamas controlled events and could not have its grip loosened on the Gaza Strip, which it seized by force from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Around the corner lie international investigations into war crimes allegations.

Hamas is celebrating its success after surviving Israel’s far superior firepower. The Islamic group’s rocket fire emptied a string of Israeli border communities and disrupted Tel Aviv’s international airport. Weak a few months ago, it may emerge as more of a player in Palestinian politics, and the plight of Gazans is again atop the world’s concerns.

It also paid dearly: 2,143 Palestinians were killed, including nearly 500 children and hundreds of fighters. The UN estimates the war destroyed or severely damaged 17,200 homes and left 100,000 Palestinians homeless, with considerable swaths of Gaza in rubble. Hamas’ rocket arsenal is much depleted and many — if not all — of its attack tunnels against Israel have been destroyed.

For the moment, Israel has promised to open border crossings with Gaza to a degree, something it does intermittently anyway, and to increase access for Gaza fishermen. Hamas’ other demands are to be later discussed: an airport and seaport, prisoner releases, salaries for its thousands of civil servants and the opening of the Rafah crossing to Egypt. Israel will ask for demilitarising Gaza. Little is likely to be resolved anytime soon.

The region is unpredictable. But as it seems this ceasefire may stick, here are some preliminary lessons:

Force may have worked

For 50 days, Hamas stuck to its rockets. Israel started with carefully targeted destruction of sites, but steadily escalated its strikes. It razed neighbourhoods and killed top fighters. This week, Israel destroyed whole apartment towers. Hamas’ fight was at first genuinely supported by Gazans desperate for an end to the embargo of the strip by Israel and Egypt — a policy largely meant to squeeze out Hamas. But in the end, probably sensing the population couldn’t take more, Hamas accepted a deal that does not differ much from the first Egyptian cease-fire proposal offered in mid-July and accepted then by Israel. The moral side of Israel’s use of devastating force will be debated and its legality may end up being examined at The Hague, but the outcome suggests it achieved its aims. Netanyahu said as much Wednesday, telling a news conference that Hamas was surprised by the intensity of Israel’s attacks in the last week of the war. Especially interesting was the minimal protest in the Arab world, where Hamas suffers from association with the Islamist groups increasingly marginalised and feared around much of the region.

The palestinians showed more resilience

Gazans are hardly free to oppose Hamas’ rule, but it was still striking how much more pressure there was on Netanyahu to find a way to end the war. Also striking was the differing view of combatant deaths: At Hamas funerals in Gaza, the mood bordered on celebratory; in Israel, the soldiers’ deaths brought national bereavement. This limited Netanyahu’s options: Removing Hamas meant invading the heart of Gaza City and potentially losing many hundreds of troops in urban warfare. There was little stomach for this in Israel, however great the outrage over Hamas and its rockets. It would have been even worse for Netanyahu had the Iron Dome missile defence system not successfully protected Israelis from most of the missiles.

The palestinian unity goverment is back

Israelis say that since Hamas embeds itself in civilian areas, there was no choice but to target those areas while making efforts to diminish civilian casualties by issuing warnings. Yet there were alternatives. Israel could have accepted some of Hamas’ demands despite reservations about doing so under fire. In May, Israel could have cautiously accepted the establishment of a technocratic Palestinian “unity government” that was backed by both Hamas and the moderate Fateh group, which runs the Palestinian Authority and its autonomous enclaves in the West Bank. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that government backed continued peace efforts even though Hamas itself may not, yet Netanyahu launched a diplomatic campaign against Abbas for aligning himself with “terrorists”. What followed was the killing by Hamas activists of three Jewish teens in the West Bank, an Israeli crackdown on Hamas in the “territory”, and the start of the violence. Now Israel seems less upset about the unity government. It would probably be grateful to have the Palestinian Authority back in Gaza, running at least the borders, handling the reconstruction aid projects — and in general, keeping Hamas in check.

Prospects for real peace remain bleak

Whatever lies ahead, the bigger Israeli-Palestinian story remains the same: A majority on both sides wants peace and accepts partition of the holy land into two states — but when the other side’s terms are considered, they cannot do a deal. Israel has always feared a total West Bank pullout that would leave it about 15 kilometres wide at its narrowest point. Jihadist advances in the face of Arab governments’ haplessness now compound that fear. There is talk in the territories of asking the world to force Israel to accept the Palestinians’ terms — a follow-up to the UN General Assembly’s recognition in 2012 of a “state of Palestine” in all of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians tend to describe such efforts, as well as the recent US-led negotiating effort that fizzled, as “last chances” to save the “two-state solution”. When that’s off the table, their vision does not lean towards accepting a future as an occupied people. More likely is another uprising, or a push by the Palestinians for a single state over all the territory of the holy land, in which Arabs and Jews would be equal citizens. Israel fears the first and ferociously opposes the second, because it would bury the Zionist dream of a national home for the Jews.

GAZA CITY — Life in Gaza resumed some semblance of normality Wednesday as a long-term truce took hold following a deal hailed by Israel and Hamas as “victory” in the 50-day war.

Millions in and around the war-torn enclave enjoyed a welcome day of peace during which there were no strikes on Gaza, nor Palestinian rockets fired at Israel, the Israeli army said.

More than 200 tonnes of aid from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey trundled into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a border official said.

Earlier, a World Food Programme (WFP) aid convoy headed into Gaza from Egypt for the first time since 2007, carrying enough food to last 150,000 people for five days, the Geneva-based agency said.

Jawad Ayad returned to his home after being away for 38 days. Although it was partially destroyed, he said Gaza's "patience" had paid off in the end.

"We have been through difficult days and made a lot of sacrifices, but God has granted us victory," said Ayad, a man in his 50s.

"I hope that this war will be the last."

The peace agreement, effective from 1600 GMT Tuesday, saw the warring sides commit to a "permanent" ceasefire which Israel said would not be limited by time, in a move hailed by Washington, the United Nations and top world diplomats.

Both Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement, the de facto authority in Gaza, hailed the ceasefire as a victory.

'Hamas got nothing' 

Under the deal, Israel will ease restrictions on the entry of goods, humanitarian aid and construction materials into Gaza, and expand the offshore area open to Palestinian fishermen to six nautical miles.

But talks on Hamas demands for a port and an airport and the release of prisoners, as well as Israel’s calls to disarm armed groups, are delayed until negotiators return to Cairo within the coming month.

Even ahead of the Cairo talks, Israel staked out a firm stance on how it will approach the upcoming negotiations.

“There will be no port, no airport and no entry of materials that could be used to produce rockets or build tunnels,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Tzahi HaNegbi, a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“That will be our position which we will present at the negotiations in Cairo,” he told public radio.

Netanyahu later told journalists Hamas had achieved none of its demands.

“Hamas wanted a port and airport in Gaza, the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, the mediation of Qatar and Turkey and the payment of salaries for its employees.

“But it got nothing.”

“We have agreed to help reconstruct the territory for humanitarian reasons, but only under our control,” he said.

Israel has consistently linked Gaza’s reconstruction with its demilitarisation, with former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror saying Hamas must choose.

“Either they will give up reconstruction, or if they want it, they have to give up the dream of being a military force on the ground,” he told journalists.

The European Union welcomed the ceasefire, but said: “A sustainable agreement should address all the root causes of the conflict and bring fundamental change to the situation in Gaza.”

Hamas too claimed victory, saying it caused Israel heavy losses, in a reference to the 64 soldiers killed in the fighting in its biggest military loss since 2006.

“The Palestinian resistance achieved a military victory before the war was over because it stood firm in the face of the arsenal of Zionist terrorism,” the Islamist movement said in a statement.

Crossing changes 

The WFP aid convoy was carrying 15,650 food parcels, including ready-to-eat canned meat, canned beans, tea and dates, it said.

A later line of trucks took in 150 tonnes of medicine and medical equipment given by the king of Saudi Arabia, the border official said.

Another 45 tonnes of health supplies arrived from an Oman welfare organisation and Turkey also sent huminatarian aid via Rafah, the official said.

Palestinian officials were expected to meet with their Israeli counterparts on Thursday to discuss procedures at the crossings, Raed Fattuh, head of the Palestinian liaison committee told AFP.

“Karm Abu Salem will operate tomorrow as usual, in the way it was before the Israeli war,” he told AFP, using the Arabic name for the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing at the southernmost end of the Israel-Gaza border.

“The Palestinian and Israeli sides will meet tomorrow to look into everything regarding the movement of merchandise through the crossing.”

WASHINGTON — An apparently looming American clash with Islamic State in Syria presents a defining test for President Barack Obama's doctrine of often lethal, but limited, no-boots-on-the-ground warfare.

Obama's worldview, cemented when US armies bogged down in Iraq, led him to a brand of war in which drones pound Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan and Yemen, and special forces materialise to pursue terror suspects in hostile lands like Libya and Somalia.

But as he contemplates targeting IS militants settling into a new caliphate, he is adamant his core policy of keeping ground troops back home is inviolate.

When Obama sketched his blueprint for flexing US power, at West Point military academy in May, he characteristically positioned himself between quagmire-wary realists and interventionists hooked on the hammer of US military power.

"A strategy that involves invading every country that harbors terrorist networks is naive and unsustainable," Obama said, not knowing his theory would be tested so soon by the IS surge.

Obama's rules of war allow unilateral force when US citizens and allies are in peril, and emphasise drone strikes and air power. He seeks to back local partners to take on jihadists in the Middle East and international coalitions to share the military burden.

He kept faith with his military creed in ongoing air raids against Sunni Islamic State targets in Iraq — in a war he had previously declared over.

US force spurred modest advances by Iraqi and Kurdish forces against IS, also known as ISIL and ISIS, and ethnic Yazidis were spared from genocide.

But some critics question whether this pared-down approach will be decisive if the president, as expected, targets IS strongholds in Syria.

Not an enduring tool 

The White House, despite warlike rhetoric pulsing through Washington, is tempering expectations that a military onslaught in Iraq, let alone Syria, will be decisive.

"The sense of a lot of people... is that the most important, powerful and effective tool in the president's toolbox is kinetic military action," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"But what we have learned in very vivid terms over the last decade or so is that a US-led military operation is not an enduring solution."

But the IS blitzkrieg in Iraq revealed limits of relying on local allies as the once-feared Peshmerga was patchy and Iraqi forces, built on US taxpayer billions, crumbled.

And despite the eclipse of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, hopes for the "inclusive" Baghdad government Washington says is vital to crushing IS are far from fruition.

Deal with the Devil 

In Syria, the search for partners is short and unpleasant.

Obama has been loath to arm moderate rebels, leaving anti-IS forces weak. The one potential ally with clout is President Bashar Assad. But Obama would have to swallow hard indeed to wage common cause with a man he sees as a war criminal.

Moreover, the track record of America and allies augurs ill for a new Middle East adventure.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, through Libya's slump into failed state misery, Washington's attempts to clamp calm on regional havoc have floundered.

"There continue to be in Washington and in the Obama administration, people who fancy that somehow or other, American military power can restabilise what we destabilise," said Andrew Bacevich, Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Boston University.

"I am skeptical of that."

And US forces sent to pound Syria could be operating in the dark.

A former US official said that unlike in Afghanistan and Iraq, where Americans patrolled for years, and human and geospatial intelligence was plentiful, the military's knowledge of Syria is limited, making it hard to pick targets.

It is not surprising then, that Obama, warned Tuesday that rooting out the IS "cancer" will not be "quick”.

'Refusing to lead' 

Still, many power players are convinced a new Middle East front is needed and could work.

Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says IS can only be defeated if hit in Syria as well as Iraq.

There is strong support for significant aid for Free Syrian Army Forces.

"You can't contain ISIS, you have to defeat it," Republican Senator John McCain, who backs US air strikes in Syria.

"This president doesn't want to lead," McCain told CNN.

Howard "Buck" McKeon, Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wants IS "defeated and destroyed" with a diplomatic, political and military offensive.

Other foreign policy chieftains warn Obama may have to deal with the devil, amid fears IS zealots armed with Western passports could hit the US homeland.

"The Assad government may be evil — but it is a lesser evil than ISIS and a local one," Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, argued in Wednesday's Financial Times.

Though the White House refuses to work with the Syrian leader, he looms large, because he would win if IS is extinguished.

The White House demurs when asked when Obama, who travels to Europe next week for the NATO summit, will make up his mind.

GAZA CITY — Shopkeepers reopened and fishermen put out to sea on Wednesday as Gaza's 1.8 million people breathed a collective sigh of relief after a truce ended 50 days of bloodshed.

For the most part, there was a sense of hope on the streets after the surprise ceasefire came into force at 1600 GMT on Tuesday, ending seven weeks of violence which killed more than 2,140 in Gaza and 70 on the Israeli side.

"Victory is ours," enthused Ehab Abu Jalal, a man in his 30s.

"We have had enough of war, no one should have to endure everything we've been through because of the war," he said.

"This truce has to last."

Under the terms of the deal, Israel has pledged to ease restrictions at its border crossings with Gaza in a move which a Palestinian official said amounted to a lifting of its eight-year blockade.

Although talks on crunch issues such as Hamas’ demand for a port and an airport in Gaza were delayed for fresh talks in Cairo within the next month, just the mention of them was reason enough for optimism.

"We are going to have a port and an airport, the crossings will be opened, the blockade will be lifted and we will be able to live in dignity," Abu Jalal beamed.

For the moment, he is supporting his family as well as his four brothers, all of whom are unemployed construction workers, on what he earns as a metalworker.

Chance to work again 

Israel first imposed a blockade on the impoverished Gaza Strip in 2006 after fighters captured a soldier in a deadly cross-border raid.

A year later, when Hamas seized full control of the territory, it slapped even tighter restrictions on the passage of goods, blocking the import of construction materials on the grounds they could be used by fighters to build fortifications.

For Abu Jalal, an end to the blockade would mean an influx of new materials and a chance for him and his brothers to start working again.

The truce agreement also included an expansion of the fishing zone to six nautical miles in a measure which went into force before dawn on Wednesday.

"It's basically the limit that we were used to before the war, so for the moment we haven't actually gained anything," said Nizar Ayash from the Gaza fishermen's union.

During the day, fishing boats' motors spluttered into action for the first time in weeks, as fishermen headed out into the Mediterranean, eager to revive their livelihoods.

"During the war, when a fisherman went in to the sea, even just 100 metres, the Israelis would fire at him," Ayash said.

Today, the fact they can go out at all means they can get back to earning enough to be able to feed their families.

A fisherman beamed as he held up a fish from his first catch of the day.

Although the agreement speaks of a gradual expansion of the fishing limit to 12 nautical miles, it is still far from the 20 miles written into the 1994 Oslo peace accords, which has been drastically reduced by Israel.

"Palestinian fishermen demand their right to fish up to 20 miles from the coast," Ayash said, adding that what they really wanted was for Israel to "stop controlling all of our movement".

Fellow fisherman Abu Ahmed is not at all optimistic.

"For the moment, nothing has changed on the ground and we are used to the enemy breaking all of its promises," he told AFP.

"With all the sacrifices we have made, we must be able to fish further out than six miles," he said.

And sacrifice they have. During 50 days of violence, more than 2,140 Palestinians have been killed, more than 11,000 have been wounded and more than half a million displaced, while hundreds of homes have been completely destroyed.

Jawad Ayad returned to his home on Wednesday after being away for 38 days.

Although it was partially destroyed, he said Gaza's "patience" had paid off in the end.

"We have been through difficult days and made a lot of sacrifices, but God has granted us victory," said Ayad, a man in his 50s.

"I hope that this war will be the last."

DUBAI — Three Saudi princes, including Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, flew to Qatar on Wednesday, state media reported, amid efforts to repair a rift in the US-allied Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors to Qatar in March, accusing Doha of failing to abide by an agreement not to interfere in one another's internal affairs. So far, efforts to resolve the dispute have failed.

The meeting comes amid growing concern in the Gulf over an increasing threat from the Islamic State, a splinter group of Al Qaeda. The IS has captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in recent months, next door to some Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia's SPA news agency said Prince Saud and the head of general intelligence, Prince Khaled Bin Bandar, and Interior Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef arrived in Doha on a "short brotherly visit". Qatar's QNA news agency carried a similar report, giving no details on the purpose of the trip.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE fell out with Qatar over the role of Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, in the region. Gulf officials have said the three want Qatar to end any financial or political support for the Brotherhood, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by Saudi Arabia.

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Oman met last week to review efforts to heal the rift, but Gulf media have said no breakthrough occurred.

Kuwait's Al Watan newspaper quoted Gulf diplomatic sources as saying that resolving the dispute was "facing difficulties". They said Saudi Arabia in particular had compiled a long list of notes on what it called Qatar's failure to abide by an agreement that bars countries from interfering in each other's affairs.

GCC officials are due to hold another meeting on Saturday, which has been described as having "special importance". The meeting, announced this week, is expected to discuss "a number of issues related to the path of GCC joint action".

In April, the body agreed on ways to implement a security agreement they reached last year, which Riyadh, Manama and Abu Dhabi, had accused Doha of not abiding by.

GAZA/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel and the Palestinians agreed to an Egyptian-brokered plan to end the fighting in Gaza after 50 days of combat in which more than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, 64 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

Following are the broad parameters of the agreement, provided by Israeli and Palestinian officials.

As part of the deal, both sides have agreed to address more complex issues — including the release of Palestinian prisoners and Gaza's demands for a sea port — via further indirect talks starting within a month.

Immediate steps

— Hamas and other groups in Gaza agree to halt all rocket and mortar fire into Israel.

— Israel will stop all military action including air strikes and ground operations.

— Israel agrees to open more of its border crossings with Gaza to allow the easier flow of goods, including humanitarian aid and reconstruction equipment, into the coastal enclave. This was also part of a ceasefire agreement after the last conflict between Israel and Hamas in November 2012, but was never fully implemented.

— In a separate, bilateral agreement, Egypt will agree to open its 14km  border with Gaza at Rafah.

— The Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, is expected to take over responsibility for administering Gaza's borders from Hamas. Israel and Egypt hope it will ensure weapons, ammunition and any "dual use" goods are prevented from entering Gaza. They also expect tight monitoring of imports of construction materials like cement and cast iron to make sure they are used to rebuild or build homes rather than tunnels that have been used to attack Israel.

— The Palestinian Authority will lead coordination of the reconstruction effort in Gaza with international donors, including the European Union, Qatar, Turkey and Norway.

— Israel is expected to narrow the security buffer — a no-go area for Palestinians that runs along the inside of the Gaza border — reducing it from 300 metres to 100 metres if the truce holds. The move will allow Palestinians more access to farm land close to the border.

— Israel will extend the fishing limit off Gaza's coast to 9km from 5km, with the possibility of widening it gradually if the truce holds. Ultimately, the Palestinians want to return to a full 19-kilometre international allowance. This was also part of the previous ceasefire deal in 2012 and was briefly implemented before being rescinded in March 2013.

Longer term issues to be discussed

— Hamas wants Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners rounded up in the occupied West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Jewish seminary students in June, an attack that led to the war. Hamas initially denied involvement in the killings, but a senior Hamas official in exile in Turkey last week admitted the group did carry out the attack.

— President Abbas, who heads the Fatah Party, wants freedom for long-serving Palestinian prisoners whose release was dropped after the collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

— Israel wants Hamas and other groups in Gaza to hand over all body parts and personal effects of Israeli soldiers killed during the war.

— Hamas wants a sea port built in Gaza, allowing goods and people to be ferried in and out of the enclave. Israel has long rejected the plan, but it is possible that progress towards it could be made if there are absolute security guarantees. In antiquity, Gaza was a major port in the eastern Mediterranean, a critical point for spice trading. There have been plans to build a new port since the Oslo peace accords in the mid-1990s, but no progress has been made.

— Hamas wants the un-freezing of funds to allow it to pay 40,000 police, government workers and other administrative staff who have largely been without salaries since late last year. The funds were frozen by the Palestinian Authority.

— Israel has in recent weeks said it wants the full "demilitarisation" of Gaza. The United States and European Union have supported the goal, but it remains unclear what it would mean in practice and Hamas has rejected it as unfeasible. It is possible that Israel will raise it again as talks progress.

— The Palestinians also want the airport in Gaza — Yasser Arafat International, which opened in 1998 but was shut down in 2000 after it was bombed by Israel — to be rebuilt.

GAZA — Gaza's city workers cleared roads of rubble and fixed power lines on Wednesday as a ceasefire took hold after 50 days of war, with displaced families expressing a sense of relief and frustration as they returned to their damaged homes.

Some of the biggest cheer was among Gaza's fishermen, who were able to sail six miles offshore to cast their nets rather than the usual three, even as Israeli patrol boats kept watch, allowing them to return with full catches.

Thousands of families displaced from areas of northern and eastern Gaza, the location of some of the most intense fighting of the conflict, returned to their districts, only to find their homes partially or completely destroyed.

"I am happy and I am not happy," said Salama Al Attar, a father of three from the town of Beit Lahiya. "I am happy because the war has ended and I am unhappy because I have no shelter, no home."

Attar said he had fled with his family on July 15 as Israeli troops launched a ground offensive, having warned residents to leave the area. His family has spent the past six weeks living in a temporary shelter set up inside a UN-run school.

Attar is just one of the estimated 540,000 people displaced by the fighting, a quarter of Gaza's 1.8 million population.

The war, the longest fought between Israel and Hamas, left 2,139 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza health officials, with most of those civilians, including 490 children. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

As well as the human toll, an estimated 15,000 homes were badly damaged or destroyed in Gaza, while the electricity power plant and a water treatment centre were heavily bombed.

In Israel, scores of towns, cities and collective farms were hit by some 4,000 mortars and rockets fired from Gaza, the reason Israel gave for launching the offensive on July 8.

With quiet in the skies — aside from the occasional Israeli surveillance drone — families set up mourning tents to receive condolences for their lost relatives.

Hamas fighters, some of them still masked, visited relatives and injured colleagues in hospital, and joined celebrations in the street that went on late into the night on Tuesday. At least one person was killed in celebratory gunfire.

"Now we leave positions in the battlefield and we assume preparations and readiness for another fight," said one masked gunman, still clutching an assault rifle.

Gains vs losses

At the small port in central Gaza City, fishermen expressed relief at their catches, showing off mounds of silvery sardines glistening in the midday sun. With fishing an intensely competitive industry in the small enclave, they were already hoping for a further extension of their maritime limits.

"We hope they open up the sea further," said Raed Baker, a member of one of the largest fishing families in Gaza. "We hope this is going to be the last war on Gaza," he added, thinking about the wider sea access a longer-term peace might bring.

In Shejaia, a district of eastern Gaza battered by artillery fire during the war, families returning to wrecked houses set up tents to stay in and looked for ways to reconnect their fractured access to power and water.

"The house was destroyed and many of the family were killed," said Umm Mohammed Al Helu, fighting back tears as she told of 10 family members killed by Israel's shelling.

If the ceasefire holds, the next objective is rapidly to get aid and reconstruction materials into Gaza via its border crossings with Egypt and Israel. UN officials have estimated the cost of rebuilding at up to $10 billion or more.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel and Egypt have agreed to ease the blockade on Gaza to get goods in, but also want to ensure that weapons, ammunition and any "dual use" goods are not being smuggled into the territory. The Palestinian Authority is expected to take over the administration of the borders from Hamas to ensure tighter monitoring.

Pierre Krähenbühl, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency which supports more than 1 million people in Gaza, said the ceasefire was not enough by itself — it was essential to address the psychological and physical damage done.

"Scars of this war will take time to heal," he wrote on Twitter. "Physical and emotional wounds run deep. Children in particular will require attention and support."