Palestinian factions agree on ceasefire, call for restored Palestinian unity

Date: 30 / 04 / 2008 Time: 09:25
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Twelve Palestinian political and military factions have agreed in principle to accept a ceasefire with Israel.

However, Palestinian leaders agreed that any agreement should be bilateral, apply to both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and include an end to the siege of the Gaza Strip.

Leaders from a dozen minor factions are in Cairo this week meeting with Egyptian mediators. The talks will resume on Wednesday.

The Egyptian mediators are scheduled to resume on Wednesday a round of negotiations with 12 Palestinian factions hoping to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper quoted most of the Palestinian factions who took part in the talks as saying that they ceasefire should be immediately followed by Egyptian-supervised talks aimed at restoring Palestinian national unity. Some factions expressed reservations regarding the Hamas-proposed ceasefire, yet they affirmed they would not block a ceasefire agreement despite their reservations.

Mahir At-Tahir, a leader in the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television that the PFLP told Umar Sulaiman, the head of the Egyptian intelligence service, that they would not oppose any agreement that is beneficial to the Palestinian people.

At-Tahir also revealed that the PFLP's delegation met with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and suggested that he sponsor a dialogue between Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah based on a plan proposed by the PFLP. The PFLP has recently held talks with Hamas' leader in exile Khalid Mesha'al in Damascus as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas while he was visiting Jordan.

For his part, the deputy secretary general of Islamic Jihad, Ziad Al-Nakhala stated that his movement too would agree on a ceasefire on the condition that it is bilateral and extends to both Gaza and the West Bank. He told the press in Cairo on Tuesday that the Islamic Jihad will react "positively" with any efforts aimed at protecting the Palestinian people's interests.

Hamas has announced its readiness to accept a ceasefire that begins immediately in the Gaza Strip, and then expands to include the West Bank after six months.

Some Palestinian factions demanded that the span before ceasefire extends to the West Bank be three months only, while other factions insisted that ceasefire should apply to both Gaza and the West Bank immediately.

In Cairo: Palestinian factions agree principally to a Hamas-proposed ceasefire

Wednesday April 30, 2008 08:52 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Representatives of Palestinian factions, who are meeting in Cairo this week, have agreed to the Hamas-offered ceasefire declaration, submitted to Egyptian mediators last Thursday.

The factions' agreement to the initiative should be based on calm in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while Israel would lift the current blockade of Gaza and halt all military actions against the Gaza Strip's population, representatives of 12 factions conditioned.

According to the Al-Ahram Daily newspaper, the factions wanted also a comprehensive national dialogue under the auspices of Cairo.

In a televised interview with the Al-Jazeera TV Arabic channel, Maher Al-Taher of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, confirmed that his party's delegation asserted to the chief of Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman, that his party wont obstruct the national interests of the Palestinian people.

From his part, Ziyad Al-Nakhala, undersecretary general of the Islamic Jihad group in Palestine, voiced his group's agreement to a comprehensive ceasefire in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Last Thursday, the ruling Hamas party in Gaza submitted to Cairo a proposal for ceasefire with Israel, based on a six-month period of calm, to be implemented in the Gaza Strip first and then at a later stage in the West Bank.

Israel rejected the Hamas offer, branding it 'unserious and an attempt by Hamas to rearm and reorganize'.

The Hamas government hails factions' agreement to the ceasefire offer

Wednesday April 30, 2008 17:02 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

The Hamas-dominated government in Gaza hailed on Wednesday the Palestinian factions' agreement to the ceasefire proposal, Hamas had submitted to Egyptian mediators last week.

In a statement, faxed to press, the government of prime minister, Ismail Haniya, said the agreement by factions today in Cairo comes on top of Egyptian efforts to bridge the gap between the various affiliations regarding the ceasefire offer.

The statement turned the ball into Israel's court, urging the international community to pressure the Israeli government in order to end underway hostilities as well as the Palestinian people's suffering.

Media reports said today that representatives of the various Palestinian factions in Gaza had a consensus on the Hamas's ceasefire initiative, with the reservation of the Islamic Jihad group, the popular front for the liberation of Palestine and the democratic front for the liberation of Palestine.

The said three parties said the ceasefire initiative doesn’t involve the West Bank, saying they want it a comprehensive and mutual. However, they maintained they would not object to the national Palestinian consensus.

Last Thursday, the ruling Hamas party submitted to Cairo its vision for a ceasefire with Israel that honors a six-month period of calm, in which Hamas would ensure halt all forms of Palestinian attacks on Israel, in return, the Israeli army would cease all attacks on Gaza including lifting the current blockade.

Last Friday the Israeli government rejected the offer, saying Hamas attempts to 'rearm and reorganize after recent fighting with the Israeli army in Gaza'.

Early this week, the Israeli tanks rolled into northern Gaza, killing a mother and her four children inside their house, as Palestinian resistance factions were reportedly fired a number of homemade shells onto adjacent Israeli areas on Wednesday.

Cartaker gov't: The ball now is in Israel's court after we agreed on calm plan

[ 30/04/2008 - 04:19 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The caretaker government headed by premier Ismail Haniya welcomed Wednesday the Palestinian factions' consensus on the Egyptian proposal regarding the comprehensive truce, provided that it is implemented in Gaza first and then in the West Bank, pointing out that the ball now is in the court of the Israeli government.

In a statement received by the PIC, the government stressed the need to respect this united position of the Palestinian factions and to respond to their demands which includes ending all forms of aggression on the Palestinian people, lifting the siege, and opening the border terminals including the Rafah crossing according to the mechanisms agreed with Egypt.

In another statement received by the PIC, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, stated that Cairo's announcement that the Palestinian factions reached a consensus on the truce under its auspices is a good step emphasizing that the ball now is in Israel's court and it has to decide whether to make the Egyptian efforts succeed or fail and thus be responsible for the consequences of any failure.

Dr. Abu Zuhri added that the Palestinian consensus confirms that the problem is not in the Palestinian people but in the Israeli occupation which persists in its threats and aggression.

The statement underlined that Hamas and the Palestinian factions in light of this announcement are waiting for a formal Israeli response through Cairo in order to determine their final position on the truce.

For their part, the leaders of the Palestinian factions in Cairo announced that they agreed to a plan for calm despite their reservations about the plan which does not include simultaneous calm in both Gaza and the West Bank, affirming that they received a promise from Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence director, that he would try to convince the Israelis not to take any provocative step in the West Bank.

Mohamed Al-Baba, the head of the popular resistance committees' delegation, stated that everyone agreed but with reservations, hoping that the Egyptian efforts would bear fruit.

Baba also expressed his fears that any offensive act by Israel whether in Gaza or the West Bank in case there is truce would torpedo the calm and stir up the situation again.

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