Hamas Speaks Out On Egyptian Cease-Fire Plan

By: George Baghdadi
Topics: World Watch

(AP Photo/Abdalrahem Khate)

The Hamas leadership said on Wednesday it still has "certain reservations" over an Egyptian cease-fire plan, which calls for an immediate truce between Israel and the Islamic movement until an agreement is reached.

"We responded positively to the Egyptian initiative but there is still several specified points of differences and certain reservations. We hope that these points will be solved over the next few days to meet with the Palestinian national interests," a Hamas source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told CBS News.

"We welcome the Egyptian role which moves to end the Israeli aggression within the framework of the standards we had already outlined by Hamas publicly," he added.

The Palestinian faction made it clear that any truce plan must stipulate "a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza," as well as an "end to the aggression," and ending the blockade by opening all border crossing points, including Rafah.

A Hamas delegation has reportedly been in talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman over the past week. The negotiating team is made up of five officials, three from the exiled political leadership in Damascus and two from the Gaza Strip.

Imad Alami and Mohammed Nasser, two of the group's officials based in Damascus, returned to Cairo earlier Wednesday after a quick trip back to Damascus for consultations with other group leaders.

Sixteen Arab countries have agreed to attend an emergency Arab summit in Doha on Friday, but regional powers Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be notably absent.

Egypt's own plan includes a fixed cease-fire period, securing supply tunnels that Israel says are being used for weapons smuggling, opening Gaza's borders and restarting Palestinian reconciliation talks.

As Israeli military operations entered their 19th day, Palestinian medical sources said more than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far, including some 300 children and 75 women.

The fighting has raised concerns about a looming humanitarian disaster in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are without power and running water.

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by barsellers January 16, 2009 6:49 PM EST: You people need to know what goes on in Middle Eastern countries. When a father rapes his 5 year old daughter, and the society of IRAN covers it up, nobody cares!!! TAKE A CLOSER LOOK PEOPLE?!?

www.SurviveIran.com; Reply to this comment


by cbs_tom January 15, 2009 8:30 PM EST: Posted by drmaqazi at 07:45 AM : Jan 15, 2009
Realizing that words have different meanings amongst different cultures, what is your definition of peace and how is this explained in the quran?; Reply to this comment


by ffoulkes-2009 January 15, 2009 8:25 AM EST: Early Gaza damage estimate: $1.4 billion........Arabs expect, Western countries to help with rebuilding costs.

Posted by pepperwood2 at 12:34 AM : Jan 15, 2009

_____________

I would suggest they just use all that oil money they got with the recent ridiculously high prices.; Reply to this comment


by mandylind January 15, 2009 6:09 AM EST: NObsEver, nicely put. Let me add that current situation will continue to get worse until American tax payers stand up to AIPAC and other Israeli interest groups. We Americans should not be funding such monsterous behavior. Israel has become a reckless and vile state hell-bent on destroying Palestine. The Isrealis (which of course mostly means: Jewish-European immigrants) have had over a half century to learn how to get along in a mostly Muslim region. And they have failed.; Reply to this comment


by entropod January 15, 2009 4:09 AM EST: How shameful that America supports the terrorist nation of Israel, no matter how many innocents it slaughters, and has slaughtered since and before its creation.

And how shameful that those who purport to fight for the legitimate right of the return of the Palestinians to their native land would condone the murder of innocent Israeli citizens in their fight for justice and the return of their land.

You cannot fight evil by adopting evils tactics, even "temporarily".

For in doing so you become the evil you were fighting in the first place.

Something that America itself has recently learned, again.
ST

"We became evil to fight evil, assuring its victory."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave; Reply to this comment


by kmawazini January 15, 2009 4:04 AM EST: "Supporters of Israel are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration,%u201D Professor Noam A. Chomsky , MIT
Read:
http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N63/chomskytalk.html; Reply to this comment


by pfness January 15, 2009 3:45 AM EST: is a lie...
___________________

You are right. It is a lie.

CATHOLIC policy has been to conquer. It is a pity that the world thinks "Catholic" when they think Chrisitan.

Jesus was a Jew and he came back as the Jewish Messiah. Jews that actually "believed that" and gentiles in Antioch began to be called Christians THERE.
No one went out and fought wars in Christ''s name. Christians were killed in the Roman arenas. One which actually was where the Vatican now sits. But God has always made sure there were a people that was still around preaching the gospel.

Catholism didn''t come along until the 3rd or 4th century. It Hijacked Christianity''s name.

Christianity and the gospel are the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. Repentance (turning away from sin), baptizm by immersion (BURIAL with Christ), and resurrected by receiving the Spirit (walking as a new man in the principles of Christ).

Catholics invented a triune god, reinvented the Egyptian high mass with the red, purple and white robes, and went forth conquering.

No, none of that has anything to do with Christianity. And during the inquisition, they forced their will on everyone.

I always figured when I was a kid that, that is why Christopher Columbus came to America....to get away from the Catholics and have freedom of religion.

No, Christ would not approve of some of the things that are done "in his name" right now. And he has given prophecies about that very subject. They will be destroyed.; Reply to this comment


by pepperwood2 January 15, 2009 3:34 AM EST: Early Gaza damage estimate: $1.4 billion........Arabs expect, Western countries to help with rebuilding costs.; Reply to this comment


by b4ucmyi January 15, 2009 3:22 AM EST: If Israel would just let Hamas wipe it off the face of the Earth, none of this would have happened.; Reply to this comment


by rudy6543 January 15, 2009 3:13 AM EST: Posted by MrNrgmizer at 12:01 AM

I don''t have to be a Jew or anything else to think you''re beneath me.; Reply to this comment