GAZA CITY - A proposal from Palestinian factions to stop rocket attacks in exchange for an end to Israeli offensives in Gaza and the West Bank was rejected as inadequate by Israel on Friday. Just hours after a spokesman for the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad made the offer following an overnight meeting between rival factions, a Hamas militant was killed during ongoing Israeli operations in the northern Gaza Strip.“We are getting nothing from these rockets because nothing they achieve matches the force and power of the Israeli response,” Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared in Gaza City late Thursday. “We talked about the rocket fire. There is an agreement to stop the fire in exchange for a halt to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza,” the Jihad spokesman said after inter-faction talks.
“This idea will be transmitted to the Israelis by Abu Mazen (Abbas). If they accept, there will perhaps be a stop to fire on Israeli towns but not a general truce,” Khader Habib added.
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“Israel has always aspired to an end to violence and we count on a change of attitude from the Palestinians and primarily Hamas in order to give development a priority in the Gaza Strip instead of continued attacks,” she added.