SYRIA: Palestinian Islamist group Hamas sets lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip as a condition for a truce with Israel being mediated by Egypt

Record ID: 279629

  • Title: SYRIA: Palestinian Islamist group Hamas sets lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip as a condition for a truce with Israel being mediated by Egypt
  • Date: 7th February 2009
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (FEBRUARY 6, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HAMAS LEADER KHALED MESHAAL ARRIVING FOR RALLY RALLY IN PROGRESS MESHAAL WALKING TO DELIVER HIS SPEECH VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT RALLY MESHAAL DELIVERING HIS SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS LEADER KHALED MESHAAL, SAYING: "We announce our position frankly: we will not accept a truce unless it is in return for lifting the
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2009 12:00
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  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAE871LU658AAC0750PKX3S6BT6
  • Story Text: The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas will reject a truce with Israel being mediated by Egypt unless the deal includes lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Friday (February 6).
    Addressing a rally in Damascus, Meshaal said Hamas had only received "vague" proposals from Egypt without an Israeli commitment to lift the siege, which Hamas regards as an illegal collective punishment of Gaza's
    5 million population.

    "We will not accept a truce unless it is in return for lifting the siege, opening the border crossings and the acceleration of the reconstruction of Gaza," he added.
    Hamas officials are due to return to Cairo on Saturday (February 7) to give a final reply to proposals to reach an 18-month truce with Israel following its offensive in Gaza, which was halted last month when the two sides declared separate ceasefires.
    Hamas cited the blockade as a main reason for not renewing a previous six-month truce with Israel in December.
    Israel said it invaded Gaza to punish Hamas for rocket attacks on Israel from the small territory. Rockets have been fired sporadically at Israel in recent days, with Israel responding with air strikes on Gaza.
    Meshaal did not address the rockets issue directly but said Hamas would stick with armed struggle to regain occupied land.
    Hamas refuses to recognise Israel but has offered the Jewish state a truce lasting decades if it withdraws from land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, including East Jerusalem.
    Meshaal dismissed criticism by members of the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahomud Abbas that Hamas is blinded by Islamist ideology. He said Hamas's cause was national liberation and cited the support for Hamas of secular Turkey.
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