Ismail Haniyeh
Photo: AFP
Omar Suleiman
Photo: Reuters
Hamas offers temporary truce in Gaza
Delegation of Islamist leaders lays out outline for 'hudna' with Israel in meeting with Egyptian Intelligence chief. Hamas official confirms group accepts Cairo ceasefire proposal, to begin in Gaza and spread to West Bank in accordance with timetable
Hamas leaders handed over on Thursday proposals for a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, with a timetable for extending it to the West Bank, at a meeting of the Islamist group with Egyptian mediators.
Former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar and former Interior Minister Saeed Seyam held talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, Egypt's main contact with Hamas and Israel, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said.
A Palestinian official close to the talks said the Hamas delegation would tell Suleiman it is prepared to accept the idea of a staged truce, starting with Gaza only.
Distribution of aid in Gaza (Photo: AP)
"Hamas's position is that they agree to a calm in Gaza and the West Bank but it would begin in Gaza at this stage and then apply to the West Bank after an agreed and specified period of time," said the official, who declined to be named.
Hamas, which controls Gaza but has prominent members resident in the West Bank, has previously insisted that a truce should begin and apply at the same time to both areas.
Israel said it was ready for "quiet" at the Gaza border, but that it would require a complete halt to attacks by Hamas on Israelis, a stop to cross-border rocket fire from all Palestinian groups and an end to weapon smuggling into Gaza.
"We can't have a period of quiet that will just be the quiet before the storm," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The Palestinian official said Hamas made any truce conditional on Israel opening all of Gaza's border crossings and halting military action in the territory.
The Islamist group had backing from other Palestinian militant factions in the enclave, he added.
Israel skeptical
Egypt would relay Hamas's proposal to Israel in the coming days, he added. Israeli officials said they were skeptical about the chances of reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip."We are not holding our breath," a senior Israeli official said. "We certainly don't want Hamas to have an interval to get stronger."
Israel has said it is not negotiating a truce with Hamas but would have no reason to launch attacks on the Gaza Strip if rocket fire from the territory ceased. But it says it reserves the right to take military action to protect its citizens.
The Egyptian intelligence chief, who is in regular contact with the Israelis, has been trying to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hamas, especially since Palestinians broke through the border with Egypt in January to escape a long Israeli siege.
