International   

De-link ceasefire from other issues: Hamas

DUBAI: The Palestinian group Hamas supports an immediate end to fighting in Gaza but wants to decouple the resulting ceasefire from other issues relevant for the stabilisation of the coastal strip.

Two Damascus-based senior leaders of Hamas Musa Abu Marzuq, deputy chief of the organisation, and Muhammad Nazzal have shared their perspective on the Gaza situation with two major Arabic television channels. While Al Arabiya, a channel based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) interviewed Mr. Marzuq, Mr. Nazzal spoke to the Qatar based Al Jazeera network.

Asked on the status of the ceasefire talks in Egypt, in which a delegation from Hamas and Turkey are participating, Mr. Marzuq said all three provisions of the Egyptian plan were on the agenda.

Egypt has called for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, apart from proposing more permanent arrangements for preventing cross-border smuggling of weapons and opening of border crossing points.

Mr. Marzuq said: “The first provision should be implemented first. It should not be limited by the results or the acceptance of the second or third provisions since the first provision speaks about reaching a ceasefire between the two sides.”

Elaborating, Mr. Nazzal said, “At this stage, we will stress the need to halt the aggression on the Palestinian people and break the blockade. This must be done. Any other controversial issue must be dealt with later on.”

He stressed that the blockade was also part of the Israeli “aggression” as it was also causing loss of life through other means.

“This is not the first time we say that we view the aggression from two angles. The first is the growing aggression and killing in Gaza Strip, or the swift killing by bullets, and the slow killing by the blockade. We view the blockade as an aggression against the Palestinian people, just as the killing by bullets.”

The Hamas leader said the group was opposed to the deployment of international forces inside Gaza under the United Nations flag.

“We are still under occupation, and as long as occupation is in place, there must be resistance, and attempts to exclude Gaza Strip and neutralise it while it is still part of the Palestinian land raise a question mark at this time.”

Both leaders praised Turkey’s role in efforts to bring about a ceasefire. Mr. Marzuq explained that France, Turkey and Syria could make a significant contribution in validating the Egyptian proposal.

“I believe that the Egyptian initiative will be stronger if it encompasses all these parties because the Turkish initiative is linked with the Syrian stand on the Israeli aggression, and — to a certain extent — it is widely accepted by the Arabs.”

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

De-link ceasefire from other issues: Hamas
Severe damage in Rafah
Growing concern over civilians’ fate in Sri Lanka
Prachanda’s call for Communist unity
NATO supply route blocked
Madoff avoids jail
400 km per charge on China’s e6
We will build on ties with India: Hillary
Ukraine blocking flow of gas, says Russia

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu