Barhoum: Hamas will abide by the ceasefire declaration

Tuesday June 17, 2008 20:32 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC

Hamas's spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, said that his ruling party will abide by the ceasefire declaration , Cairo announced on Tuesday.

Barhoum was responding to Tuesday's Egyptian declaration of a ceasefire agreement between Palestinian factions and Israel, Cairo has been mediating over the past several weeks.

According to the spokesman of Egyptian foreign ministry, Hussam Zaki, the ceasefire deal will go into effect by Thursday morning and that both Israel and the Palestinians will commit to the ceasefire simultaneously, in conjunction with lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza gradually.

Hamas's spokesman, Barhoum stated to IMEMC's correspondent in Gaza that his party welcomed the declaration but it preserves the right to retaliate to any Israeli occupation army attacks on Gaza until Thursday morning.

Barhounm also stated that any agreement on the ground should not include the case of captured Israeli soldier Gila'ad Shalit, but he maintained that the Palestinian factions, involving Hamas, would abide by stopping the homemade shells fire from Gaza if the Israeli aggression comes to a halt.

Asked whether Hamas has received details of the agreement, Barhoum explained" the party's representatives have been working relentlessly with the Egyptian brothers regarding the truce talks, for the best of Palestinian national interests".

In April, the ruling Hamas party in Gaza submitted a ceasefire initiative to Egyptian mediators, stipulating halt of homemade shells fire from Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns, in return for lifting the Israeli blockade and ceasing Israeli military attacks on the region.

Israel has set two main conditions for any truce deal; release of Shalit and crackdown on weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza.

Concurrently, the Israeli army carried out today, a series of air strikes on different parts of the coastal territory, killing six Palestinian men and wounding six others.

Calm to be announced by weekend

[ 17/06/2008 - 01:21 PM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)--

Reliable sources told the PIC in the Syrian capital Damascus that Israel had approved to halt all forms of aggression and to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip in return for calm.

The sources expected the Egyptian-mediated calm between Israel and the Palestinian resistance factions to be announced by the end of the week.

Hamas's political leaders Dr. Khalil Al-Hayya and Dr. Jamal Abu Hashem left Damascus on Tuesday morning heading back to Cairo after holding lengthy meetings with the Hamas political bureau members that started late Monday and continued till dawn Tuesday.

Sources told PIC that Hayya and Hashem exchanged views with the political bureau members about the Israeli offer that was relayed to the Hamas delegation by the Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Saturday in Cairo.

The Hamas officials would not elaborate on details or nature of the Israeli offer and the Movement's position towards it. However, they said that Hamas would consult with other Palestinian factions and forces so that the Palestinian stand would be united.

For his part, Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said that a final stand for his Movement would be announced following internal consultations.

He said that Hamas would soon announce its position, which, he said, would be in line with national concord and would take into consideration the higher interests of the Palestinian people.

Facts on ground indicate that the Israeli occupation forces are planning a large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip, he underlined, adding that if the IOF refused calm then all forms of resistance would be pursued to protect the Palestinian people.  

Another Hamas spokesman, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri asserted that talks over calm were about to conclude amidst positive atmosphere. He told PIC on Tuesday, "We are getting closer to announcing an agreement in this regard if no new developments take place".

Abu Zuhri explained that the draft agreement separates between the calm issue and that of the captured Israeli soldiers Gilad Shalit. It includes reciprocal ceasefire, lifting the siege on Gaza and opening the crossings according to a certain mechanism, he elaborated.