Send Page to a Friend Hub Muslims, Jews hopeful truce will last   By Jessica Fargen Boston Herald   Local Muslims and Jews say they are hopeful, although somewhat skeptical, that a cease-fire in the monthlong bloodshed between Israel and a Lebanese terrorist group will stand, giving relief to both war-ravaged countries.    "They want peace desperately," said Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, who returned yesterday from a weeklong trip to Israel.    She is cautiously optimistic that the cease-fire expected to take effect early today between Israel, Lebanon and the radical Muslim group Hezbollah will stand.    Kaufman said she has never seen Haifa, which is Boston's sister city, devastated the way it was when she visited. She said the normally bustling city in Israel's northern region is eerily quiet. Her lunch at a Haifa mall Tuesday was interrupted went sirens went off and patrons quietly descended five floors to a shelter.    "I was extremely pained at the depth to which this has impacted the city, not just physically, but economically and psychologically," she said. "People are really under siege."    The monthlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has left 900 dead.    Albert Sherman, 68, who is on the Jewish Community Relations Council executive board and who returned Tuesday from Israel, said the attacks have put a serious strain on both countries .    "I feel terribly about the poor Lebanese people. I think the Israelis are tired. Enough is enough," he said.    John Hajjar, political director for U.S. chapter of the pro-democracy World Council of the Cedars Revolution based in Quincy, said if the cease-fire fails, it will be Hezbollah's fault.    "The Lebanese people are being held hostage by Hezbollah," he said. "Anything that happens, I'm going to blame the terrorist organization for it."