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Monday, February 9, 2009

Hamas regime's ceasefire demand: Israel must leave it in power

GAZA CITY Ñ Hamas has demanded a guarantee from Israel that it would not attack the Islamic regime in the Gaza Strip.   

Hamas sources said a five-member delegation that completed negotiations in Cairo has insisted that any Israeli ceasefire include a guarantee backed by the international community that Israel would not topple the Islamic regime. The sources said this has been the main obstacle to a ceasefire agreement, Middle East Newsline reported.

"They [Egypt] have a duty to provide guarantees that bind the Zionist entity, and the Egyptians have to give us answers to our inquiries," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

The disclosure came amid renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas along the Gaza Strip border. On Feb. 7, Israeli aircraft struck Hamas strongholds in the southern and central Gaza Strip.

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In a briefing on Feb. 7, Barhoum said the issue of Israeli guarantees marked the latest and most difficult obstacle toward a proposed year-long ceasefire with Israel. He said the prospect of a ceasefire by the Israeli elections on Feb. 10 were slight.

On Feb. 7, a four-member Hamas delegation, led by Gaza Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, arrived in Cairo for what the sources said could signal the final stage of negotiations. This was Zahar's first public appearance since the 22-day Israel-Hamas war, in which he was said to have been injured. The arrival of the Hamas delegation took place one day after a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official held talks in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman.

"The delegation will hear Israel's position, which senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad relayed to Suleiman on Friday," Zahar said. "There will be a folo-up on Israel's position, and based on that we will give the final Palestinian position."

Hamas sources said another disagreement with Israel concerned an international presence along the borders of the Gaza Strip. They said Hamas demanded that international monitors have no authority to stop travelers or goods.

So far, the largest Palestinian militia in the Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad, said it supported a ceasefire with Israel. Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib, in a move that could pave the way for Hamas agreement, said a ceasefire would ensure the opening of the Gaza border.

But Habib said the Iranian-sponsored Jihad has rejected Israeli demands for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, abducted by Hamas in 2006. Habib said Israel has warned that it would prevent 25 percent of all goods from reaching the Gaza Strip until Shalit was released.

"The current Zionist proviso of withholding 25 percent of the goods until captured Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit is released will do nothing but impede the talks," Habib said. "If this 25 percent becomes zero percent then an agreement can be reached by the end of the week."

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was relaying proposals for the release of Shalit by Feb. 10, the sources said. They said Olmert was sending messages through Turkey to Hamas leader Khaled Masha'al, based in Damascus, Syria.

Hamas has also sought to control humanitarian shipments to the Gaza Strip. On Feb. 6, in wake of several Hamas seizures, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said it suspended all aid imports to the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA said Hamas had earlier seized 200 tons of rice and 100 tons of flour imported from Egypt. The UN agency said the Hamas seizure was the second in three days.

"UNRWA's suspension of imports will remain in effect until the aid is returned and the agency is given credible assurances from the Hamas government in Gaza that there will be no repeat of these thefts," the agency said.



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