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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas, Jihad meet Cairo officials to discuss truce, opening Rafah crossing |
| 2008-03-07 |
| Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives met with Egyptian intelligence officials in the Egyptian city of El-Arish yesterday to discuss the possibility of opening the Rafah border crossing and of reaching a truce with Israel. After the meeting, Ayman Taha, Hamas' spokesman in Gaza, said that Hamas was open to a tahadiyeh - a temporary cease-fire - on condition that it be bilateral. In addition to an end to Israeli military operations, Taha said, Israel must also lift the blockade on Gaza. Khader Habib, who headed the Islamic Jihad delegation at the meeting, said that Israel must also agree to a comprehensive cease-fire in the West Bank that includes an end to arrests of suspected militants. Israel opposes such restrictions. The Hamas delegation was headed by Mahmoud Al-Zahar. Taha said that Hamas is open to having members of the presidential guard of the Palestinian Authority stationed at the Rafah border crossing, on condition Hamas be allowed to vet the list of personnel. Taha added that the organization would also agree to the redeployment of European observers at the border as long as they lived in the Strip or in Egypt and not in Israel. Senior IDF officers met with their counterparts in the Palestinian preventative forces in the West Bank yesterday to discuss ways to maintain calm in the territories following Friday prayers at the mosques. Amos Gilad, who heads the Defense Ministry's military-foreign affairs bureau, is to meet in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein on Sunday to discuss arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza via the Philadephi Route as well as new border crossing arrangements at Rafah. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I still like the leg breaking plan myself... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-03-07 09:57 |