06/01/2009
Once again, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak insists on holding Hamas responsible for the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In a closed conversation Monday, he told a delegation of European foreign ministers that Hamas must not be allowed to win the war with the Israeli army, Haaretz said.
Mubarak’s comment came after Egypt invited Hamas to discuss available proposals for a ceasefire. Hamas announced it will dispatch representatives only to listen to the proposals. Following a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, Hamas representatives said they had received an Egyptian proposal and would consider it.
Also Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was visiting Tel Aviv, that Israel would not honor a cease-fire imposed by the UN Security Council without its consent. Arab states are currently pushing for a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
European foreign ministers, headed by Karel Schwarzenberg of the Czech Republic, whose country currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, came to Tel Aviv after visiting Cairo, and briefed Israeli Foreign Minister Tsibi Livni on their meeting with Mubarak. They reportedly told her that Mubarak had said Hamas "must not be allowed to emerge from the fighting with the upper hand."
The Egyptian cease-fire proposal would require Israel to end its military offensive and withdraw from Gaza, while Hamas would have to end rocket fire into the occupied territories. The crossings into Gaza would reopen, but PA officials would be stationed at the Rafah crossing with Egypt. In addition, Egypt is demanding that Hamas resume reconciliation talks with Fatah.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political wing, said that Hamas was open to a truce, but said that any proposal must guarantee an Israeli withdrawal and an end to the blockade of Gaza.
PRESIDENT MUBARAK - PLEASE OPEN THOSE GATES!!!
At the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, medical teams are lining up to help the injured and suffering in Gaza. While some of the people hurt in the fighting are being allowed out of Gaza for treatment, many of the doctors are still not being allowed in, as Al-Jazeera's Rawya Regeh reports.
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