SYRIA: Hamas commits to short truce with Israel

Record ID: 279129

  • Title: SYRIA: Hamas commits to short truce with Israel
  • Date: 25th November 2008
  • Summary: (BN14) DAMASCUS, SYRIA (NOVEMBER 24, 2008) (REUTERS) HAMAS LEADER, KHALED MESHAAL, DURING THE NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA IN NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS LEADER, KHALED MESHAAL, SAYING: "In what concerns the truce, from now until December 19, 2008, Hamas is committed to the truce as long as the enemy is committed to it. After December 19, there will be other actio
  • Embargoed: 10th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5B9TJXP3GK0SJ55KEGQOOERK1
  • Story Text: Hamas commits to truce with Israel until December 19 as long as Israel is also committed.
    Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal, said on Monday (November 24) Hamas will commit to a truce as long as Israel is also committed to it.
    "In what concerns the truce, from now until December 19, 2008, Hamas is committed to the truce as long as the enemy is committed to it. After December 19, there will be other action. We are studying now how will we deal with the new phase...we are committed until December 19, if the enemy was committed," Meshaal said during a news conference held in Damascus.
    Meshaal said the Israeli side was responsible for the delay of releasing Israeli prisoner Jelad Shalit: "The indirect negotiations through the Egyptian mediator were stopped. Olmert and his team are responsible for stopping this. Thus they are responsible for the delay of releasing Jelad Shalit and releasing our prisoners in the prisons of the enemy."
    Israel opened border crossings with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Monday, allowing in limited amounts of food and fuel for the second time in three weeks after the United Nations warned of a looming humanitarian crisis.
    Aid groups said the one-day shipment would have minimal impact because border crossings have been closed for so long, depleting reserves of everything from flour to animal feed.
    Some 15 truckloads of grain and animal feed went through the Karni crossing for the first time in three weeks, Palestinian officials said.
    Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the crossings to open after a drop in the number of cross-border rockets fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip.
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