Two Palestinian parties say Egypt is playing a major role in efforts to end violence between terrorists, IDF; Hamas says its working with Palestinian factions to broker ceasefire.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHHamas policeman near exploded motorcycle in Gaza_370(photo credit: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)
While Hamas and the Palestinian Authority were actively trying to get Egypt on Sunday to broker a cease fire as the IAF hit targets in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rockets continued to pound the south, Jerusalem was not fervently campaigning for a cease fire at this time.A high-level Hamas delegation headed by Musa Abu Marzouk arrived in Cairo Sunday for talks with Egyptian officials on ways of ending the violence that erupted after IDF killed Zuheir al-Qeisi, commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, on Friday. As a result, the Palestinians have fired scores of rockets into southern Israel.Another Hamas delegation headed by Mahmoud Zahar arrived in Cairo a day earlier for the same purpose. The efforts came as various Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip announced that they would abide by a new cease-fire with Israel. The announcement followed intensive meetings between leaders of the factions and senior Hamas officials, who made it clear that Hamas was keen on maintaining the period of calm that had prevailed with Israel until last week. Jerusalem, however, did not seem in any rush to get the international community to step in and stop the fighting. And, according to Israeli diplomatic officials, the world was not demanding that Israel stop its military activities inside the Gaza Strip.According to one official, the lack of international outrage at Israel's military actions in Gaza is because the Israeli strikes have so far been surgical, and have not caused extensive civilian casualties.The official said the international media has not yet been mobilized because there has not been a great deal of destruction on either side."If there is not a great deal of coverage, there is no pressure on governments to intervene," the official said. He also said that the world's attention was diverted by bloodletting in Syria.The official noted that the he current round of fighting was getting only minimal play in the media abroad, a situation Israeli was content with since the more attention on this story, the more pressure would be placed on Israel to stop its military actions.Another government source said that there was very little criticism of Israel's actions and "not a lot of pressure to stop" coming from the world's capitals. "When our strikes are clean, there is little international pressure, because they understand who we are hitting," the official said. He added that few have any illusions about Islamic Jihad or the Popular Resistance Committees.
Nevertheless, Defense officials said there were European efforts to arrange a cease fire.Meanwhile, Hamas representative Ismail Radwan told the different faction leaders that the Palestinians should not give Israel an excuse to launch military operations against the Gaza Strip. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that the Egyptians have been working round-the-clock "to stop the Zionist aggression" on the Gaza Strip. He expressed cautious optimism regarding the prospects of reaching a cease-fire deal, and said the position of the Palestinian armed groups toward a cease-fire with Israel was "positive and responsible."Medics and other sources in the Gaza Strip said 18 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF since Friday.They said that most of the victims were members of armed Palestinian groups. On Sunday morning, Palestinian sources added, 12-year-old Ayoub Assaleya was killed by IDF gunfire in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. The IDF said it was checking the report.
Click here for special JPost coverageHamas has not been involved in the latest rocket and mortar attacks on Israel. However, its security forces did not move to stop the attacks, most of which were carried out by the Popular Resistance Committees and Islamic Jihad, Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip said.Holding Israel responsible for the repercussions of its "crimes" against the Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri advised Israel not to test his movement's patience. His statement was seen as a warning to Israel not to target Hamas officials and installations."Resistance is a legitimate right of our people," Masri said, hinting that Hamas would not remain silent if it is targeted by Israel. "Calm will be met with calm."PA President Mahmoud Abbas has also been working toward achieving a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, his aides in Ramallah said Sunday.Abbas phoned Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders Khaled Mashaal and Ramadan Shallah and discussed with them the prospects of ending the violence, the aides said.Also Sunday, Abbas phoned Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elarabi and discussed with him the situation in the Gaza Strip and ways of achieving a cease-fire with Israel.Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat blamed Israel for the escalation and called on the US to halt the Israeli military operations and help restore calm.Erekat said the Palestinians have also appealed to the rest of the Quartet members [EU, UN and Russia] to intervene with Israel to stop the security deterioration. The Quartet is scheduled to meet at the UN on Monday to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process, a meeting called before the recent escalation of violence.
