CAIRO: Israel has proposed to Egyptian mediators an 18-month cease-fire with Hamas, but the Palestinian group that controls Gaza said it wants a one-year cease-fire, a Hamas official said yesterday.
“Hamas listened to the Israeli proposal presented by (Israeli Defense Ministry official) Amos Gilad, and with it a proposal for a cease-fire for a year and a half, but Hamas presented a counterproposal of one year only,” Ayman Taha told reporters in Cairo after talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.
Taha reiterated the group’s calls for a lifting of the blockade imposed on the impoverished and devastated Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt. “It (Hamas) called for a complete lifting of the blockade and an opening of all the crossings,” Taha said.
Hamas proposed to Egyptian mediators that European and Turkish monitors be present at the border crossings, but rejected the presence of Israeli monitors, saying Israeli monitoring was “a large part of the problem,” according to Taha.
Asked if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ forces would be present at the crossings, Taha said: “Hamas is the existing government in Gaza.” Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas’ Fatah faction in fighting in 2007. Egypt has ruled out opening the Rafah crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and European Union observers.
Commenting on the talks, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told Al Jazeera television that Hamas was unwilling to alter its positions to Israel’s benefit. “The Israelis must understand that they will not achieve through politics what they failed to do militarily,” Hamdan said.
Israel launched its war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in late December. Over 1,300 Palestinians, at least 410 of them children, were killed during the 22-day offensive.
International calls to investigate Israel over war crimes in the strip prompted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday to announce the formation of a special legal team to defend Israeli soldiers against prosecution.
Speaking at the weekly meeting of his Cabinet, Olmert said Israel’s justice minister would lead a team of senior officials to coordinate the legal defense of anyone involved in the offensive.
“The commanders and soldiers sent to Gaza should know they are safe from various tribunals and Israel will assist them on this front and defend them, just as they protected us with their bodies during the Gaza operation,” Olmert said.
Last week, the military censor ordered local and foreign media in Israel not to publish names of army commanders in the Gaza War and to blur their faces in photos and video for fear they could be identified and arrested while traveling abroad. Israeli media reports said the military had been advising its top brass to think twice before visiting Europe.
In addition to the civilian death toll, Israel has faced international criticism for its use of white phosphorous and for shelling UN schools and installations that were serving as shelters.
