ISMAILIA, Egypt, 28 March 2008 — A new round of talks between Egypt and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad ended yesterday without agreement on striking a truce with Israel.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they rejected a cease-fire unless Israel stopped all raids in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, ended its Gaza blockade and reopened the coastal territory’s border crossings.
“We stressed our position that calm must be simultaneous, reciprocal and comprehensive,” said Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha.
Over the past two weeks, Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip have refrained from carrying out rocket attacks against Israel.
Israel, denying it is involved in cease-fire negotiations but saying it would have no reason to strike Hamas if salvoes ceased, has stopped targeting the group’s Gaza fighters in what appears to be a de facto truce between the two enemies.
Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib, whose group has continued to fire rockets at Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, told Reuters: “The Zionist occupation wanted calm to be limited to Gaza and we say any calm must be comprehensive and reciprocal.” Egypt, at US behest, has been trying to negotiate a cessation of hostilities between Israel and the fighters from the Gaza Strip, territory Hamas seized in June from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction.
The cross-border violence has threatened US-brokered peace talks between Abbas and Israel, which Washington hopes can result in a deal before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.
The latest truce talks, which also looked at the prospects of reopening the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, were held on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
The talks were attended by Hamas official Jamal Abu Hashem and Khaled Al-Batsh of Islamic Jihad. Gen. Mohamed Ibrahim, a senior aide to intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and another unidentified official represented Egypt. Both sides agreed to resume discussions but did not set a date for the next meeting, one source said.
Israel tightened a Gaza blockade after the Hamas takeover nine months ago, raising international fears of a humanitarian crisis, which the Tel Aviv has pledged to prevent.
In addition to wanting an end to Israeli raids and the reopening of the Gaza border crossing, Hamas has demanded a say in running the crossings, a condition that Israel rejects. The Islamist movement has spurned international calls to recognize Israel and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace agreements.
Hezbollah Rockets Can
Hit Deep Inside Israel
According to senior Israeli defense officials, Hezbollah fighters have dramatically increased their rocket range and now threaten most of Israel.
The Lebanese group has acquired new Iranian rockets with a range of around 300 kilometers, the officials said. That means the guerrillas can hit anywhere in Israel’s heavily-populated center and reach as far south as Dimona, where Israel’s nuclear reactor is located.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the confidential intelligence assessment to the media.
When Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel. The longest-range rockets fired during the war, which Israel said were Iranian-made, hit some 70 kilometers inside Israel.
While Israel’s air force managed to take out most of the group’s long-range rockets, the military failed throughout the war to halt the short-range rocket fire that paralyzed northern Israel and killed 40 Israeli civilians.
After the war, the UN dispatched a peacekeeping force meant to distance Hezbollah from the border and prevent the group from rearming.
Israel says that since the war, Hezbollah has steadily been provided with large amounts of rockets, many of them capable of hitting central Israel. However, it has not revealed any of the evidence for its claims.
Hezbollah declined comment yesterday. Yasmina Bouzian, a spokeswoman for the UN peacekeepers, said the international forces had “seen no sign or had any report of movement of weapons” in south Lebanon. “We have no reports of new weapons,” she said.
Bush Invites Abbas for Talks
President George W. Bush has invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House in an effort to give a boost to Mideast peace talks, the White House said yesterday. The plan, which envisions talks around the beginning of May, was disclosed to reporters on Air Force One by National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who was accompanying Bush on a flight to Dayton, Ohio.
“Details are still being worked out,” said Johndroe, who added that the talks would be part of a continuing effort “to work with the Palestinians and the Israelis as well as other countries in the region in realizing a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel.”
Vice President Dick Cheney returned from the region this week. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves today for the region, and Bush is ticketed to go to the Mideast in May. Johndroe, however, said that Bush’s invitation was not spurred by Cheney’s visit.
“This is not the result of one specific meeting,” the spokesman said, “but just part of the continuing process that the president has committed to.”
Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron protested yesterday against Israeli raids and closures of orphanages and charities linked to Hamas. According to organizers, some 4,000 protesters attended the rally.
