Hamas official Risheq says deal with Israel to end fighting doesn't include Egyptian commitment to stop flow of weapons into Gaza.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHGaza tunnel(photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas does not call for stopping the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip, a top Hamas leader announced Saturday.Ezat Risheq, member of the Hamas "political bureau," said that reports claiming that the agreement calls for an end to the smuggling of weapons were untrue.Risheq was commenting on reports that claimed that special US army units would be deployed along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to stop the flow of weapons to Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups.The Hamas official claimed that Israel was behind the reports "to cover up for its defeat."In a related development, Ziad Nakhalah, deputy head of Islamic Jihad, told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that the cease-fire agreement was "temporary and partial."He said that Islamic Jihad would not be able to live with the agreement for ever "as if matters were normal."The agreement, Nakhalah explained, "is part of our struggle with Israel because it is the aggressor.Israel has assaulted our lands and holy sites and people in Gaza, the West Bank and the territories of 1948."He said that Islamic Jihad would never lay down its arms. "The cease-fire must be mutual," he added."According to the agreement, Israel must end the blockade and facilitate the movement of Palestinians in the sea and on the land. If this is not implemented, we will return to the previous situation."
