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Apparently, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered a halt to Israeli attacks in Gaza and has instead entered into talks with Hamas via Egyptian mediators.

It should not be necessary to point out that Hamas has previously offered to talk with Israel on more than one occasion and that it was Israel, not Hamas, that finally broke the ceasefire in October 2006. Nevertheless, Olmert’s detractors cried for blood and he delivered. Over 125 Palestinians (half of whom were children) killed last week is enough to satiate the wolves for now, so this week why not put on the mask of peacemaker? Israel is no stranger to playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in this way.

“We certainly appear to have entered a period of talking rather than fighting now,” Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reported from Gaza.

“For more than three days now there have been virtually no rocket attacks into Israel … and also there have been no Israeli air strikes, no overflights of Gaza.”

Of course, no one is acknowledging any kind of ceasefire, least of all the Israeli government—who insist on blaming Hamas for the excessive fatalities in Gaza.

“It seems that Hamas has decided for now not to shoot, and we’re not shooting either,” said an Israeli government official.

“This could well become a ceasefire, but the ball is in Hamas’ court,” he said.

The potential ceasefire comes only days after Olmert approved plans for the expansion of a major West Bank settlement in contravention of International Law, the stipulations of the Roadmap for Peace and the current U.S.-sponsored peace talks. As Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat recently said:

“It seems to me the Israelis are determined to put a stick in the wheel of negotiations.”

Pandering to the extreme right by expanding settlements, while pandering to the “doves” by ostensibly seeking a ceasefire seems an odd game. On second thought, perhaps I have it completely wrong… Israel doesn’t play either Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde; it seems to play both simultaneously.