Egyptian ceasefire plan not acceptable for Hamas

The leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, left Cairo on Friday with empty hands. After an intense round of negotiations senior Egyptian government with the different Palestinian factions, promoted the ceasefire seems doomed to failure. “If Hamas had accepted our proposal, would have saved dozens of lives,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shukri, shortly before the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which Egypt also condemned.

Abbas met with Egyptian President Sisi Abdelfatá the team which was agreed to go ahead with the initiative launched by Cairo on Monday. After the meeting, the two issued a joint statement in which they called for an ” immediate ceasefire” on both sides, the “opening of the Israeli borders ” with Gaza and the subsequent conclusion of a “donor conference”. Al Sisi also accepted the need for “international protection” of the Palestinian people. In parallel, Abbas spoke to the permanent representative of Hamas in Cairo, Musa abu Marzook, who was asked to accept the ceasefire proposed by Egypt, which should be followed by another series of contacts to achieve a lasting peace. The Islamist movement, however, continues to demand that the Gaza blockade is relieved, release Palestinian prisoners and a maritime corridor opens its fishermen. Poor relations with the Government of Al Sisi, for which Hamas is a threat to the security of Egypt, cause the group that controls Gaza leery of the intermediary.

The Israeli delegation in Cairo – formed by the director of the internal secret service, Yoram Cohen, and Netanyahu adviser and a man of his absolute confidence, Isaac Molcho, seemed to have much clearer. After a brief visit to Cairo, one of its members was leaked to the press that they had managed to sign a ceasefire. Although these statements were later denied by the minister of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Abbas traveled from Cairo to Istanbul, where he continued diplomatic contacts. According to the Anatolia news agency, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Egypt of ” have blocked humanitarian aid to Gaza,” by keeping the Rafah crossing closed.

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Posted by Nadeem Bajwa on Jul 20 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.