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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | ||
| Hamas Rejects Cairo Ceasefire Terms, Promises War Of Attrition | ||
| 2014-08-17 | ||
| [IsraelTimes] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, on Saturday night rejected an Egyptian proposal for a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Spokesman Osama Hamdan said Israel must either accepts its demands — including for a lifting of the security blockade on Gazoo — or face "a war of attrition." At the same time, Hamas's military wing in Gazoo declared, "We are continuing our struggle." Israel has not formally responded to the Egyptian proposal — an 11-point proposal that was leaked to the press Friday. Israel's Channel 10 said, however, that Israel was not prepared to dilute its security demands as would be required under the Egyptian proposal. The Egyptian proposal speaks of lifting the Israeli and Egyptian security blockade on Gazoo, but any such easing of restrictions would apparently be overseen by Israeli and Egyptian forces on their sides of Gazoo's borders, and by the Paleostinian Authority of President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... on the Gazoo side. The PA would also play a dominant role in the reconstruction of post-conflict Gazoo. The Egyptian formula also pushes off negotiations on the opening of a Gazoo seaport and airport — key Hamas demands in recent weeks — to a month's time. Negotiations on the long-term deal, 40 days after Israel launched Operation Protective Edge against Hamas, were set to resume in Cairo on Sunday morning. It was not clear how Hamas's declared rejection of the Egyptian terms would affect the planned resumption of talks. A five-day truce agreed by Hamas and Israel is to expire at midnight on Monday. Abbas on Saturday publicly broke ranks with Hamas, declaring in Ramallah that there was no alternative but to "stick to" the Egyptian proposal. Spokesman Hamdan warned earlier that the terror group's tunnels will be a "strategic threat" to Israel and its rockets will be more precise "next time." Israel's security cabinet met on Friday, but did not release a formal response to the Egyptian proposals. An unnamed cabinet minister was quoted by Ynet late Saturday predicting the negotiations might collapse, and that it was possible that the sides would revert to "quiet in exchange for quiet" — that is, an informal ceasefire.
Another Israeli official was quoted saying that the chances of reaching a long-term ceasefire deal by the end of Monday, when the current truce expires, were very faint. Consequently, he said, according to the Walla news site, the government is considering a unilateral move to ease some restrictions on access to the Gazoo Strip and provide its residents with funds for rebuilding.
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| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 IMO Hamas is foolish in thinking they can bargain from a position of strength. Living in the past - they have lost many Arab sympathizers. (It's revolting to say this, but their strongest sympathizers seem to be Western Leftists and its media. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2014-08-17 18:47 |
| #5 September's coming up... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-08-17 15:08 |
| #4 Well, eventually the rocket launcher teams will dry up as volunteers die in droves. What was the last count on rocket attacks in recent days? |
| Posted by: Charles 2014-08-17 10:50 |
| #3 Promises War Of Attrition Fight to the last civilian and child, right? Who's forcing the innocents into the boxcars this time? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-08-17 09:28 |
| #2 Seems about right. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-08-17 08:15 |
| #1 Idiot. "Loose lips sink ships", remember? Why should Hamas come to the bargaining table when fools promise them they can get at least part of what they want by doing nothing at all? Because there is nothing to bargain about---they want us extinct. And, eventually, we'll make them extinct. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-08-17 07:19 |