Despite troubles at home, Egypt's Morsi is pivotal player in Mideast

[NewsCaster]

The truce is strained when Israeli forces fire on a protest by Palestinians seeking access to fertile land close to the Gaza border. NBC's Ayman Moyheldin reports By Jim Maceda, NBC NewsCAIRO — It was no Black Friday in Gaza, where the cease-fire was in effect for a second day.

There was some bloodshed — Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinian farmers who wandered into the prohibited 'buffer zone' near the border check on their farmland — but otherwise the first phase of the truce has worked.

Now the difficult part begins: Turning a halt in hostilities into a better future for Palestinians and Israelis.

In the near term, that will mean hard negotiations mediated by Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.


Israel insists on a stoppage of weapons smuggling through Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

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