Egypt begins Gaza truce talks with Palestinian factions

[bemildred]

(Updated 9:07 p.m.) CAIRO - Palestinian groups, including representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, held their first formal meeting in Cairo on Monday with Egyptian mediators hoping to pave the way towards a durable ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Talks focused on a list of demands agreed by the Palestinian factions on Sunday, including an appeal to Egypt to ease movement across its own border crossing with blockaded Gaza. It was not clear how far the talks would progress, however, after Israel declined to send its envoys.

Palestinian demands include a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the lifting of the blockade on the area, the release of prisoners and the start of a reconstruction process, delegation members said on Sunday.

The talks began at noon (0900 GMT) under the auspices of Egypt's powerful intelligence service and lasted about two hours. Reuters phone calls to Palestinian delegates immediately after the meeting went unanswered.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/373335/news/world/egypt-begins-gaza-truce-talks-with-palestinian-factions

[bemildred]

1. Egypt asked to hand Palestinian conditions for ceasefire to Israel

The Palestinian Ministry of Interior say that Israel violated a seven-hour humanitarian ceasefire after at least 30 were injured in the shelling of a house in a refugee camp on the western coast of Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday the seven-hour “temporary humanitarian window”, which began at 10am in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF said on Monday morning the “humanitarian window will not apply to the areas in which IDF soldiers are currently operating”, adding that Israeli forces would “respond to any attempt to exploit this window to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers”. The IDF says its forces aim to destroy tunnels that penetrate Israeli territory.

The IDF said later on Monday that it was looking into the reports of the shelling.

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/08/04/egypt-asked-hand-palestinian-conditions-ceasefire-israel/

[Jefferson23]

2. You have to admire in a twisted sense the gall to say, ...this applies and that does not apply and

to feel confident no one will gag when you use the word exploit, because all you've done so
far is proportional to what your enemy can muster up.

While talks took place in Cairo on Sunday the fighting continued in Gaza resulting in the shelling of a United Nations school, the sixth such incident since the conflict began, prompting widespread condemnation. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon described the incident as a “moral outrage and a criminal act”. The United States State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “The United States is appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling” and called for a full investigation into the incident”. Psaki also stressed: “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”

[bemildred]

3. Burns is showing up. It could get interesting.

If Egypt lifts the blockade, or relaxes it, that will be a big deal. And I don't see how they can avoid it at this point. Gaza is going to need a lot of stuff to rebuild.

[Jefferson23]

4. I understand and it would be a big deal but how is Gaza even inhabitable? I don't mean that

in any exaggerated form..I am reading some horrific and well founded concerns how this
will be possible. I am anticipating we'll hear of people being transferred out of there.

[bemildred]

5. Mountains will be moved to prevent any mass movement of the population.

And humans are suprisingly tough.

[Jefferson23]

6. They don't want them moved, but I'm not sure it will be possible for them to avoid without

incurring a much higher death rate and more international outrage.

Israel out did themselves this time.

[bemildred]

7. It's a real problem, no doubt about it.

However, having watched these things for years now, I don't think it will be some large percentage of the population that winds up dead or displaced.

[Jefferson23]

8. Hamas in Cairo for Gaza talks

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Tony Blair visit Cairo in attempt to further talks on Gaza

Hamas representatives arrived in Cairo on Sunday as part of a cross-faction Palestinian delegation for talks on the situation in the Gaza Strip.

United States Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East Tony Blair were also both expected to travel to Cairo on Saturday in attempts to secure a ceasefire between Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and Israel, according to state media.

Egypt issued an invitation to the Palestinians and Israelis as part of a US and United Nations sponsored 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire deal. The pause lasted less than three hours before the fighting resumed, despite this Egypt’s foreign ministry insisted that the invitation to Cairo was still valid.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas assembled a 12 strong delegation to travel to Cairo, including five PA members, five Hamas members and two members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Mohamed Gomaa, an expert on Palestine Affairs from Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, believes the Hamas representatives have come to Cairo very late. The Israeli military operation began on 7 July, which means that the delegation has come on day 28 of fighting.

Gomaa said the delay is owed to a “series of failures and failed attempts inside Hamas”. He said there were disagreements within the group about who would represent it inside Egypt. “The Palestinians have come late. If they had accepted the Egyptian inititative in the first week, we would have come a long way,” Gomaa said.

Relations between Egypt and Hamas have been strained since last summer’s ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in which Hamas has its roots. In March this year an Egyptian court banned the activities of Hamas inside Egypt. Hamas says it was not officially approached to participate in Egypt’s ceasefire agreement, which was proposed on 14 July.

Head of the Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal told CNN on Saturday that the group informed US Secretary of State John Kerry, via the Qatari foreign minister Khalid Al-Attiyah, that the presence of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip as part of a ceasefire is “unacceptable”.

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/08/03/hamas-cairo-gaza-talks/

[bemildred]

9. Liberman: Topple Hamas and give UN control over Gaza

The United Nations could take control over the Gaza Strip once Hamas has been removed from power, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman suggested Monday, as Egyptians and Palestinians met in Cairo to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group.

Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Liberman said asking the UN to become the custodian of Gaza was one of several ways Israel could proceed after nearly four weeks of fighting in the Strip.

“One idea is an international mandate of the United Nations. A UN mandate is not only part of the history of the land of Israel, we also saw it nowadays at least several times, for example in the cases of East Timor and Kosovo. We saw UN mandates working, and they worked not bad. And therefore here, too, we need to consider returning control over Gaza to the UN. I certainly don’t rule out this option.”

An aide to Liberman told The Times of Israel the idea was “a serious possible consideration,” when asked whether the suggestion was meant as a trial balloon.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-after-hamas-toppled-give-un-control-over-gaza/

[bemildred]

10. Burns cancels visit to Cairo for Gaza talks US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns had been expe

Top US negotiator William Burns has decided to cancel a trip to Cairo, where he was expected to arrive late Sunday to join a visiting US team that is helping Egyptian negotiators reach a truce between Israel and Palestinian factions, sources told Ahram Online.

"He cancelled," said an Egyptian source. "We are not informed of a new date. It all depends on how things go."

According to this source and others who are following the Cairo-hosted talks, "the cancellation is only an indication that the deal is not in the offing – and in fact it is not in the offing".

Another official source has qualified the "positions" of the representatives of the Palestinian factions in Cairo as "more positive and more flexible than before – and indeed more flexible at this point than the positions of the Israelis".

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/107709/Egypt/Politics-/Burns-cancels-visit-to-Cairo-for-Gaza-talks.aspx

[Jefferson23]

11. Barghouti appeals for Palestinian resistance, national unity support

August 1, 2014

Marwan Barghouti — the charismatic and popular leader of the Palestinian resistance, imprisoned since April 15, 2002 — calls from his tiny prison cell for the people of Palestine to mobilize to help Gaza and end the Israeli aggression. He said on July 29, "Resistance in all Palestinian territories must now realize the need for Palestinian unity and support the unity government, and commit firmly to its legitimacy. In the midst of thousands of other prisoners, I salute the resistance.”

In the final paragraph of his long appeal to the people of Palestine he wrote, “Now is the time to reassess the functions of the Palestinian authorities everywhere and empower capacities to resist after the flaws of the Arab experiences,” ending “the bloodshed of our children, women, elderly and our resistance heroes is going to open the road to Jerusalem. It appears that our people as well as others can achieve liberation and bring independence through sacrifice, resistance and struggle."

Barghouti’s appeal is a strong factor in enhancing the national reconciliation that took place between the governing authorities of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which makes it more credible and effective. This appeal comes from a leader whose struggle, for many years, has made him the single most influential political figure in Palestine.

I refer to this appeal because it was preceded by the growing demonstrations that took place in the West Bank and Jerusalem, signaling not only solidarity but also the unity of the Palestinian people and echoing the call for empowering the new unity government.

This development is equally significant because it removes, in a firm manner, the stumbling block that characterized the earlier duality of governing authorities in both the West Bank and Gaza. The historical significance of this appeal is that it comes from a leader who has almost unanimous approval, and hence cements the unity and empowers the new cabinet of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

In contrast and perhaps simultaneously, on July 28, a meeting of Jewish activists took place in Washington to showcase the US “unequivocal” support for Israel in its war on Gaza.

Given that it was perceived as surreptitious criticism of US President Barack Obama’s appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “an immediate and unconditional cease-fire,” Israeli forces intensified their assault on Gaza by bombing hundreds of targets, including the two Hamas TV stations and Gaza’s only power station. Yet, Obama's request caused Israel to go along with this assault accompanied with critical hints of Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/palestine-barghouti-resistance-unrwa-israel-occupation.html#ixzz39RQRcAsg