GAZA STRIP, 23 May 2008 — A suicide truck bomb explosion at the main pedestrian crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip that shook buildings miles away and violence at a rally by Hamas yesterday highlighted frustrations in the Palestinian enclave at the slow progress in efforts to secure a cease-fire with Israel.
A pro-Hamas website said Cairo talks on a proposed truce between Gaza gunmen and Israel had close to broken down. It blamed an Israeli refusal to allow a full and immediate reopening of Gaza’s crossing to Egypt, at Rafah.
A senior Hamas official who took part in talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators said on his return to Gaza yesterday that he would not confirm a breakdown of the talks and that the group would seek further clarification of the Israeli position.
“We have listened to the Israeli responses,” Hamas’ Khalil Al-Hayya said. “These responses require clarification and some answers and we await these answers in a few days. We hope they will be positive so that the siege on our people can be lifted.”
Palestinian officials familiar with the talks said Israel offered to hold back military activity, open what was previously the main freight crossing from Israel to Gaza at Karni, boost supplies into Gaza and to increase fuel shipments.
However, Israel was reluctant to approve an immediate reopening of Rafah, the main point of contact for Gazans with the outside world, given Israel’s refusal to let most people into the country through the other main passenger terminal at Erez.
All the crossings have largely been shut since Hamas seized control of the coastal strip last June when its fighters routed the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction.
After the takeover, Israel tightened a blockade on the territory as gunmen attacked the Jewish state and continue to do so with almost daily barrages of makeshift rockets and mortar bombs. Egypt has opened Rafah crossing from time to time, largely to people needing medical treatment and for humanitarian cases.
The pro-Hamas website reported that Israel’s demands “shocked” negotiators from the group.
It outlined the issues, saying Israel would only agree to a truce in return for an end to the rocket launchings and other attacks from Gaza. It added that Israel might agree to lift the blockade on the coastal territory only after it was certain that the truce was holding.
The release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was seized in a cross-border raid almost two years ago, was also integral to a deal, the report said.
Israeli officials had no new comment on the truce negotiations. Officials have made clear they would like to see progress on releasing Shalit but have not made his freedom a precondition for a cease-fire.
Some experts in Gaza say they think Hamas does not want to declare a failure of the talks in order not to give Israel free rein to begin a large-scale military operation in the coastal strip that is home to some 1.5 million Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner yesterday that world governments must shun Hamas, a ministry statement said, after the latter disclosed his country was in touch with the group.
