CAIRO - Egypt is pushing for the formation of a hudna truce monitoring body with the participation of the rival Palestinian factions to shore up a nearly three-week-old truce in Gaza, a top official said on Monday.
‘Egypt has drafted a memorandum listing the principles and the mechanisms to consolidate the ceasefire,’ the official told the state MENA news agency. ‘A monitoring commission will be set up, under the auspices of Egypt, to ensure the application of the accord.’
| Anything, anything to keep people from throwing up their hands and giving the whole mess back to Egypt. |
| "Surely, effendi, we will work to make sure they are happy. Secure, and happy. Please to have some cash now?" |
Egypt has been holding a series of separate meetings with the rival factions in a bid to consolidate the ceasefire which went into effect on May 16 after more than 50 people were killed in internal fighting in Gaza. The official said that Egypt hopes to bring the factions together for direct talks in the second half of June.
A Palestinian source close to the talks said Egypt was also seeking agreement on restictions on the bearing of arms in Gaza, where mounting lawlessness has seen a spate of abductions of Westerners, most recently BBC correspondent Alan Johnston.
‘The memorandum proposes a ban on the carrying of arms in residential areas, school buildings and hospitals, and on military-style demonstrations,’ the source said.
| But not mosques. Never mosques. |
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