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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas, Fatah resume inter-Palestinian talks

2010-09-25

Which will keep their spokespeople busy until the next round of kidnap-murders. [Al Arabiya] Representatives of rival Paleostinian parties Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Fatah met in Damascus late on Friday to discuss efforts toward reconciliation, a Hamas official said in the Syrian capital, as Egypt released a top Hamas official after holding him for 10 days. Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad will meet with Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, Hamas political official Ezzat al-Rushuq said earlier in the day. The talks will be the fruit of efforts by Meshaal after he met in Saudi Arabia with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who has been instrumental in past efforts by Cairo to end the dispute between the two parties. Hamas-Fatah rifts In the last general election in 2006, Hamas unexpectedly defeated the secular Fatah, headed by Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas. Tensions between the two came to a head the following year when Hamas forces in the Gazoo Strip routed those loyal to Abbas's Paleostinian Authority, confining the latter's authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Egypt has made several attempts at reconciliation, but the last round of talks ended in October 2009 when Hamas refused to sign an Egyptian document after it was inked by Fatah. Under the terms of that document, legislative and presidential elections were to have been held in mid-2010.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Top Hamas security chief detained in Egypt

2010-09-21

[Al Arabiya] Egyptian authorities detained a top security chief in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as he flew in from the Islamist movement's base in exile in Syria as media reports revealed that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Saudi Arabia this month. "Mohammed Khamis Dababesh, head of the Hamas-run General Security service was arrested on his arrival in Cairo from Damascus late last week," Egypt's state-owned daily Al-Ahram said on Monday. Dababesh is "suspected of involvement in activities harmful to Egyptian state security, including an attempt to traffic a significant quantity of sophisticated telecommunications equipment," the paper said. He is also accused of being responsible in his capacity as security chief for the death in January of an Egyptian policeman during an exchange of fire at the Gaza border. Hamas has controlled Gaza since June 2007 when it ousted forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It is strongly opposed to renewed peace talks between Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Israel.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel warning as Libya aid boat eyes Gaza landing

2010-07-12

Israel on Sunday vowed to prevent a Libyan aid ship from running the Gaza blockade after it appeared to be heading for the besieged enclave despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts to divert it to Egypt. ‘Israel will not let the boat reach Gaza,’ minister without portfolio Yossi Peled told Israel’s public radio a day after the 92-metre (302-foot) freighter Amalthea set sail from the Greek port of Lavrio, south of Athens. Allowing vessels to reach the Hamas-run Gaza Strip without being checked would have ‘very serious consequences’ for Israel’s security, he said. There was confusion over the ship’s destination on Sunday — with organisers saying it was staying the course for Gaza, despite diplomatic reassurances from Greece that it was headed for the Egyptian port of El-Arish. ‘We are heading for Gaza. We will not change direction,’ Mashallah Zwei, a representative of the Kadhafi Foundation, a Libyan charity, told AFP by satellite phone from on board the Amalthea. He insisted the foundation was not seeking ‘a confrontation or a provocation,’ when asked about the risks of a repeat of an Israeli naval raid on an aid flotilla on May 31 that killed nine Turks. Zwei said the ship was currently ‘close to Crete’ and would likely reach Gaza in about two days. Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the attempt to reach Gaza, which has been subjected to an Israeli naval blockade for the past four years, was an ‘unnecessary provocation.’ ‘The goods can be transferred to the Gaza Strip through Ashdod port after being checked,’ a statement from his office said late on Saturday. ‘However, we will not allow the entry of arms, weapons or anything which will support fighting into Gaza. We recommend that the organisers either let the ship be escorted by navy vessels to Ashdod port (in southern Israel) or that is sails directly to the port of El-Arish’ in Egypt. Barak’s office had earlier said the defence minister spoke with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and asked ‘if Egypt would agree to accept the boat at the port of El-Arish.’ It was not immediately clear if Egypt had acceded to Barak’s request but the ship’s agent and the Greek foreign ministry had on Saturday assured Israel that the Moldova-flagged vessel, chartered by a charity linked to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, was heading for El-Arish.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Freed Palestinian inmate calls for kidnapping more Israeli soldiers

2009-10-05

A former Palestinian inmate released in exchange for a videotape of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit called for the kidnapping of more Israeli soldiers. Rawda Habib, was arrested two and a half years ago and returned to her home in the Gaza Strip Sunday, the Palestinian Maan news agency said. Habib, who acted on behalf of the Islamic Jihad, planned to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel, the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper reported. At a press conference organized on her behalf in Gaza, Habib called on the Palestinian resistance groups to kidnap more Israel soldiers saying it was the only way to achieve the release of all the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the newspaper said. Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman expressed optimism that a deal to secure Shalit's release could be obtained within two to three months, the newspaper said. "Never have we been so close to a deal," Yedioth Aharonoth quoted him saying.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas leader heads to Cairo for Palestinian talks

2009-06-09

[Al Arabiya Latest] Khaled Meshaal, leader of the Islamist movement Hamas, was set to travel to Cairo on Monday for reconciliation talks with rival Fatah faction in a bid to revive efforts to restore Palestinian unity. The Hamas delegation, which crossed into Egypt from Gaza earlier, includes former foreign minister Mahmud Zahar and is scheduled to hold talks with the head of Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the main mediator in the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, Hamas official Fawzi Barhum said in Gaza City. Tensions between Hamas, which controls besieged Gaza, and the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas have risen and recent clashes in the West Bank left four policemen, four Hamas fighters and a civilian dead.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

In apparent about-turn, Suleiman meets Lieberman, invites him to Cairo

2009-04-23

[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, despite declarations from Lieberman's Egyptian counterpart earlier this month that Cairo would not deal with him, nor would he be welcome in the Arab nation, until his attitude changed. Lieberman held "an important and constructive meeting" with Suleiman "in a friendly atmosphere," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Suleiman invited Lieberman to visit Cairo, according to Israel Radio. During the meeting, the foreign minister "expressed his respect and appreciation for Egypt's leading role in the region and his personal respect for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Minister Suleiman."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian factions to end low-level dialogue

2009-03-15

Rival Palestinian factions will suspend on Saturday low-level national dialogue as they failed to overcome obstacles in reconciliation talks held in Cairo, said Wasil Abu Youssef, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Front. Abu Youssef said the rival factions will end activities of five national dialogue committees which failed to bridge difference on how to form a unity government and conduct presidential and legislative elections, according to the Egyptian news agency MENA. But parties made progress in talks over the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), reconciliation committees and security, he added. President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement insisted during Egyptian-hosted talks taking place in Cairo that rival Islamist group Hamas must "abide" by existing peace agreements signed with Israel but Hamas refused to make such a commitment. Hamas proposed using the word "respect" instead of "abide" but this falls short of satisfying the conditions set by United States, Israel and Western countries. The agreements and commitments with Israel were signed by the PLO, now headed by Abbas. Hamas, the Islamist movement which won a parliamentary election three years ago, has controlled the Gaza Strip since a brief, bloody fight against Fatah in 2007. Abbas's Palestinian Authority holds sway in the occupied West Bank. Israel, the United States and Western countries refused to recognize Hamas's control of Gaza. Israel, which has imposed a blockade on the coastal territory, demanded an end to Hamas rule before it considers easing its restrictions. Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Fatah and Hamas leaders late on Thursday to try to narrow differences, officials said. Abbas, talking to reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said negotiations "had encountered difficulties."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Fatah, Hamas on uphill road to reconciliation

2009-02-28

Representatives of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo this week for talks aimed at national reconciliation and the formation of a unity government. "Egypt hopes this meeting is the real start of a new period ending the state of division which has gone on too long," Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, Egypt's point-man on Palestinian affairs, was quoted as saying. On Wednesday, delegations from both Fatah and Hamas held preliminary meetings in Cairo aimed at removing obstacles to rapprochement. Delegation members later described the meetings as "positive." According to the state press, the two groups agreed to release each other's detained members, currently being held in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and the Fatah-controlled West Bank respectively. As a gesture of goodwill, Fatah reportedly released 42 Hamas members from West Bank prisons, with promises of additional releases soon. The issue of detainees has tripped up reconciliation talks in the past. Last November Hamas and other resistance factions pulled out of a scheduled reconciliation summit in Cairo at the last minute, citing the ongoing mass arrest of their members in the West Bank. Ever since Hamas swept Palestinian legislative elections in early 2006, the two factions have pursued bitter rivalry featuring intermittent fighting and arrest campaigns. Mutual hostility reached boiling point in the summer of 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in a pre-emptive coup. Further complicating the situation, Israel and Egypt - with the PA's blessings - have both sealed their borders with the strip, hermetically sealing the enclave off from the outside world. On Thursday, talks in Cairo were broadened to include ten more Palestinian factions in addition to Fatah and Hamas. Along with the formation of a national unity government, discussions touched on upcoming presidential and legislative elections, the restructuring of Palestinian security apparatuses and the role of Hamas in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Details of Thursday's closed-door meeting remain vague, but Suleiman reportedly stressed the importance of reaching a mutually acceptable agreement. "Do not prolong the disagreement and deepen the division," he was quoted as saying in advance of the gathering. "Unite ranks to fulfill the hopes for an independent Palestinian state." According to Essam al-Arian, prominent member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement, Hamas' steadfastness during Israel's recent three-week-long assault on the Gaza Strip served to bolster the group's negotiating position.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinians agree on unity government

2009-02-26

RIVAL Palestinian groups agreed overnight to set up a unity government by the end of next month after reconciliation talks aimed at ending long-running factional feuding, officials said. The agreement, which could lead to the creation of a Palestinian government acceptable to the international community, was announced by officials from two Palestinian factions involved in the Cairo-sponsored dialogue. Jamil al-Majdalawi, an official with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said the factions had formed several committees that would pave the way for the unity government. "The committees will end their work and a Palestinian unity government will be formed by the end of March," he said. His comments were confirmed by Mohammed al-Hindi, deputy leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The reconciliation talks opened after the main groups Fatah and Hamas agreed on confidence-building measures to resolve the fate of prisoners detained by both sides and stop a war of words being played out in the media. The stakes are high as billions of dollars of funds to rebuild the Gaza Strip after Israel's war on the territory may be available if terms set by international donors can be met before an aid meeting next week in Egypt. "We have no option before us but to succeed, and that will be difficult," Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is mediating the talks grouping about a dozen Palestinian factions, said. Egypt had originally called for Palestinian reconciliation talks in November, but Hamas withdrew at the last minute, complaining that Fatah was continuing to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank. The reconciliation process was relaunched by Egypt after Israel's 22-day war on Gaza that ended last month with more than 1300 Palestinians killed and buildings and infrastructure throughout the impoverished territory destroyed. British foreign secretary David Miliband, visiting Cairo overnight, had called for the Palestinians to form a new government of "technocrats" to oversee political and economic reconstruction in readiness for elections. Hopes of a positive outcome to the talks had been boosted after yesterday's meeting between Fatah, which heads the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, and Hamas - which is boycotted as a terrorist group by Israel and the West. A joint statement said Fatah and Hamas had each agreed to release prisoners from the rival in several stages. Today's conference, which brought in other Palestinian factions, stemmed from Egyptian proposals for a lasting ceasefire following Israel's onslaught on Gaza from December 27 to January 18.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas: Truce won't include Schalit

2009-02-14

Hamas deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said on Thursday that his organization supports an 18-month truce with Israel, though it would not be linked to a prisoner exchange deal to free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit. Reuters quoted Abu Marzouk as saying that the Egypt-mediated truce would be announced in the coming two or three days. "It will be in a short period, God willing... within two days," he said. Abu Marzouk, in Cairo for truce talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, told Al-Jazeera that Hamas was waiting for Israel to approve the details of the emerging agreement. Taher Nunu, another member of the Hamas delegation in Egypt, also said the cease-fire would be officially announced within three days. "Most of the obstacles preventing us from consolidating an agreement have already been solved," Nunu said, adding that the agreement would ensure an end to the fighting with Israel and the opening of the crossings into Gaza. Earlier, a senior Egyptian official said "the discussions with Hamas representatives in Cairo were very successful" and an agreement would be signed as early as Thursday night. The delegation also included Hamas "Foreign Minister" Mahmoud Zahar and Gaza legislator Salah Bardawil, an Egyptian official said. Hamas would accept an 18-month truce if Israel stopped its "aggression," i.e. attacks, lifted its blockade and opened the Israeli border crossings with the Gaza Strip, the official said earlier Thursday.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas sees truce with Israel within 48 hours

2009-02-14

The Israeli military said rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel, causing no damage or injuries on Friday, a day after Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-brokered 18-month truce with the Jewish state, which Egypt would announce in 48 hours, a senior Hamas official said. Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzuk said after meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman that Hamas had accepted the truce in return for the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. "We have agreed to the truce with the Israeli side for one year and a half (in return) for the opening of all six passages between the Gaza Strip and Israel," MENA quoted him as saying. Egypt will announce the agreement after contacting Israel and Palestinian factions, he said. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told AFP in Jerusalem that he did not wish to comment.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas offers Israel year-long ceasefire

2009-01-26

Hamas officials in Cairo on Sunday proposed a year-long truce with Israel and an opening of the crossings into the Gaza Strip, in the latest round of diplomatic meetings to build on a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas official Ayman Taha told reporters in Cairo that his delegation was briefed by the Egyptians on an Israeli proposal for a year-and-a-half long truce with only partial opening of the border, which they rejected. Instead, Taha said the group made a counter-offer of a year with open borders, which they now must discuss with their leadership in Damascus. "We will study the matter again and it will be brought back to the Egyptians," he told MENA, the official Egyptian news agency, without elaborating on the other provisions of the possible deal. Hamas has said in the past that it will only maintain a truce if Israel ends its blockade of the Gaza Strip and opens the crossings. Israel's top negotiator on Gaza, Amos Gilad, was also in Cairo on Thursday for talks. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks to build on a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after a 22-day Israeli assault, which killed some 1,300 Palestinians. The Hamas discussions with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman included the nature and length of the truce, a system to monitor the border crossings and how reconstruction would be carried out, said Taha. "We are ready for any help in this issue (of reconstruction), but we are not willing to make it a political issue or use it for blackmail," he told MENA. First estimates show Gaza suffered about $2 billion in damages during the Israeli airstrikes and ensuing ground offensive. Israel and the US have opposed reconstruction funds for Gaza going to Hamas. The issue of a new system to monitor the border crossings is key to preserving the ceasefire, and Israel, the United States and Egypt are trying to work out security arrangements to ensure Hamas does not smuggle weapons into the strip before any opening. Taha told journalists after the talks that the militant group was open to Turkish observers being part of the monitoring system, alongside the Europeans stipulated in a 2005 agreement on the border crossings. That agreement, supported by Egypt and Israel, also stated that the borders should be controlled by members of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard. Taha said while the Palestinians monitoring the border could be members of Abbas' security forces, they had to be from the Gaza Strip. Regarding the issue of Israeli soldier Sgt Gilad Schalit, kidnapped by Hamas in 2006, Taha said it would only be discussed as part of a prisoner swap and had no bearing on truce discussions.

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