http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055510.html
Last update - 23:28 14/01/2009
Hamas: We accept Egypt's proposal for Gaza truce - with reservations
By Avi Issacharoff and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondents and
Reuters
Tags: Gaza, Hamas, Egypt
Hamas representatives held a press conference in Cairo Monday evening
following talks with Egyptian officials, and announced that they have accepted
in principle an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire agreement to end the
fighting between the Islamist group and Israel in the Gaza Strip, saying that
they hoped that the Egyptian efforts will bring about an end to the aggression
against the Palestinians.
The announcement came as Israel Defense Forces ground troops continued
fighting Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip as Israel's offensive against Hamas
infrastructure neared the end of its 19th day.
Salah al Bardawil, the Hamas representative in the Palestinian
parliament, said that Hamas is working toward achieving the following goals: an
end to Israeli aggression in Gaza, the lifting of the siege on Gaza, the
reopening of Gaza's border crossings, the rehabilitation of the Strip and a
compensation for Gaza residents.
Al Bardawil hinted that Hamas had generally accepted the terms of the
Egyptian proposal but demanded clarifications on several clauses. He said that
the Egyptian initiative is the only one Hamas was presented with.
"We're not talking about amending the proposal, since it was presented by
Egyptian President [Hosni] Mubarak, but this is a proposal that includes many
phrases, and each side has the right to present its opinion and interpretation
of these phrases. We have voiced our stance and our interests within the
framework of this general outline and the guidelines anchored in the Egyptian
proposal," al Bardawil said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmet Aboul Gheit said Monday evening that
Hamas had accepted the Egyptian draft which calls for immediate end to
aggression on Gaza, the opening of the border crossings and the withdrawal of
Israeli forces inside the Strip. He said that Hamas representatives presented
their stance to Egyptian intelligence officials, and that they in turn will
relay the outcome of their talks to Israel.
Mohammed Nasser, a member of Hamas' political bureau who was present in
the talks, voiced reservations regarding the announcement that the Egyptian
proposal was acceptable to Hamas, saying that Hamas' willingness to cooperate
with Egyptian efforts did not mean that they had accepted the proposal. "There
are still clauses under discussion and we are still pushing the issue," he
said.
Arab diplomats say Hamas is reluctant to accept a long-term ceasefire
agreement right away. Israel, which wants an end to rocket attacks on its towns
and guarantees that Hamas cannot smuggle in more weapons through Egypt, said it
would not agree to a truce that allowed the Islamists to regroup and rearm.
"Israel seeks a durable quiet that contains a total absence of hostile
fire from Gaza into Israel and a working mechanism to prevent Hamas from
rearming," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Earlier Wednesday, the Saudi-owned Arabic language Al Arabiya TV reported
that under the Egyptian proposal, Hamas had agreed to abide by the 2005
agreement which calls for Palestinian Authority forces to man the Rafah border
crossing between Gaza and Egypt under the supervision of European observers.
Hamas conditioned the cease-fire agreement with Israel on the immediate
withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip, Al Arabiya reported.
Meanwhile, a Hamas leader said that points of contention remained over
the Egyptian proposal.
"There are still points of difference on the initiative and these points
have not been resolved so far," Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in
Lebanon, said in an interview broadcast on Al Jazeera television.
"The initiative in its present form does not realize the [Palestinian
national] interest. Specific points in it have to be changed... We believe
there is no initiative which cannot be modified or changed," he added.
The original proposal was for a temporary truce to allow for talks on
long-term arrangements to secure the Egypt-Gaza border and end the Israeli
blockade of Gaza.
But the proposal may have changed during secret negotiations mediated by
Egypt over the past week.
U.S. White House spokesperson Dana Perino said Monday that "we have every
right to be skeptical of things that you see in the newspaper reported about
Hamas. And so I think we need to wait and see what actually happens. And as
things develop, we'll comment from here."
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