Ayman Taha, a spokesman for Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, said Wednesday that Egyptian mediator Omar Sulieman has invited Hamas officials to hear Israel's response to a proposed Egyptian truce deal.
"They'll be in Egypt on Sunday," Taha said.
Suleiman was in Israel this week to discuss the truce efforts.
Advertisement
He's been trying for months to clinch a truce between Israel and Gaza
militants. Palestinian militants routinely fire rockets at Israeli communities near Gaza, and Israeli forces retaliate with often-deadly air and ground operations.
Hamas and Israel have each put foward tough conditions for a truce to occur.
Defense officials: Egypt to open Rafah, cease-fire or not Egypt will reopen the Rafah crossing to Palestinians even if Cairo's initiative to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas fails, according to assessments by Israeli defense officials. The Israel Defense Forces, meanwhile, is taking steps to be able to limit mass marches to the fence separating Gaza and Israel.
Although Egypt denies it, evidence is mounting that Cairo and Hamas recently reached an understanding to open the crossing regardless of the outcome of the negotiations.
Israeli officials on Monday told Suleiman during his visit to Israel that Jerusalem would not agree to a cease-fire unless substantial progress is made in negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier abducted by Hamas in June 2006.
Defense officials also told Suleiman that Israel would not agree to open the Rafah crossing without such progress, conditioning their consent on Shalit's release to Egypt. Suleiman expressed reservations about the demand, arguing that a cease-fire would help facilitate the deal for Shalit's release.
However, Egypt could reopen the crossing without Israel's consent as part of Cairo's negotiations with Hamas. If Egypt does that, it would be violating understandings on the crossing it undertook under American pressure in November 2005.
The agreement Egypt signed then put the crossing under European supervision under security requirements demanded by Israel. The crossing has remained all but sealed since Hamas' seizure of power in the Gaza Strip last June, after which Israel imposed a strict blockade on the enclave.
The Palestinian Authority firmly objects to the prospect of reopening the crossing. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is insisting on the presence of PA security forces at the site. Meanwhile, the Palestinians today begin two days of protest to commemorate what they call the Nakba (catastrophe) - the establishment of the State of Israel.
The IDF is preparing to counter a possible attempt by Hamas to have thousands of Palestinians march to the fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
