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.