Why Hamas rejected ceasefire terms

Articles from Al Jazeera, Al Monitor and Reuters

Contrails from Iron Dome intercepting a rocket near Tel Aviv on live TV on Sunday, July 13, 2014. Screen capture: Channel 2. From Times of Israel.

Hamas rejects Egypt ceasefire plan for Gaza

Armed wing of Palestinian group calls proposal an “initiative of submission” as death toll in Gaza climbs to 189.

By Al Jazeera
July 15, 2014

The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas has rejected an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, according to its official website.

The Qassam Brigades said on Tuesday that it had not been sent details about the “alleged initiative” from any side, “officially or unofficially”.

The statement said that excerpts published in the media showed it was an initiative of “bowing and submission”, and added “it was not worth the ink it was written with”.

“Our battle with the enemy will continue and will increase in ferocity and intensity,” it added.

Earlier, Israeli officials said Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, would convene his security cabinet to discuss the proposal.

The official told the Reuters news agency that the meeting will take place later on Tuesday.

The proposed truce would start on Tuesday morning, and be followed by talks on a long-term ceasefire.

Khaled al-Batch, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad armed group, said that the group welcomed “Egypt’s role and efforts to end the Israeli aggression and defend the Palestinian people” but will not accept the ceasefire without conditions.

“It is not acceptable to start observing a ceasefire for short term then negotiate the terms. We have experienced this in the past and it has failed,” he said.

“What is needed now is to agree on the demands of the Palestinian people, chiefly ending the siege and opening the border crossing, then a zero hour can be agreed upon. Otherwise, history will repeat itself, period.”

In a televised statement on Al-Aqsa TV on Monday, Ismail Haniyeh, the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, said the group had been contacted about a ceasefire but he did not specify who had made that contact.

Haniyeh said: “Our people were avoiding the war but the Zionist enemy began it, he announced it, he prepared for it, he started to kill the women, children and families, destroy homes. Entire families were eliminated.”

“Every drop of blood is dear to us. My heart and all the people are standing beside these families, but this bloodshed pushes us towards being more committed to our rights and to stopping this aggression, to end this situation in Gaza and the West Bank.”

Egypt’s state news agency said on Monday that US Secretary of State John Kerry is to fly to Cairo to discuss the situation and US President Barack Obama said he was “encouraged” by Egypt’s proposal for a ceasefire.

At least 189 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict so far, and the UN has said that at least 80 percent of the casualties have been civilians.

Another 1,350 people have been wounded in the offensive and more than 17,000 people are sheltering in UN compounds.

At least 10 Israelis have been injured by rockets fired from Gaza. No Israeli fatalities have been recorded.

Hamas: no cease-fire until siege of Gaza lifted

The United States is indirectly communicating with Hamas via its regional allies to negotiate a cease-fire, but Hamas is insisting that Israel lift its crippling siege on Gaza.

By Adnan Abu Amer, Al Monitor / Palestine Pulse
July 14, 2014

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — As the Israeli attack on Gaza enters its second week, more than 165 Palestinians have been killed, among them 41 children, 23 women and 15 elderly people. An additional 1,130 Palestinians have been wounded, according to information obtained by Al-Monitor from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Amid these human losses, there are growing fears of an Israeli ground operation, which will further complicate the situation on the ground.

On the evening of July 10, Abu Abida, the spokesman for Hamas’ military arm, the Izz ad-Din Qassam Brigades, asserted that a ground war offers an opportunity to free Israeli-held prisoners of war. The al-Qassam Brigades have prepared themselves for a long battle of many weeks. Abu Abida also said that Israel will not determine the timing of the conflict’s conclusion or its terms, emphasizing that the battle will involve many surprises.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, spoke to al-Aqsa satellite network on the evening of July 11 about his organization’s readiness for war. According to Zahar, the battle will be decisive and game changing, even if it continues for months.

Al-Monitor asked a high-ranking Hamas official currently residing outside of Gaza about the organization’s stance on a ground operation. The official believes it is unlikely Israel will send its troops into Gaza as it would result in casualties for the Israeli army. “We do not want Israel to take this step because it will cost the lives of many Palestinians, since Israel will follow a scorched-earth policy before its soldiers cross Gaza’s borders.”

“As the political leadership, we are in communication with fighters inside Gaza who are beginning military preparations for any Israeli attempt at a ground operation. They have field plans that could cause Israel to regret the decision to undertake such operation — they will kill many Israeli soldiers, target Israeli military vehicles, and capture soldiers for use in prisoner exchanges,” the official added.

As a sign of readiness for an Israeli ground operation, the al-Qassam Brigades fired “Kornet” rockets at Israeli vehicles. The first landed to the east of Gaza at the Nahel Awz base, and the second near Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza, with the brigades claiming direct hits.

Raafet Marra, a Hamas official in Lebanon, noted at a recent press conference that he considered a ground operation unlikely because of Israel’s fear of the many surprises the al-Qassam Brigades have in store. He said that Israel is also reluctant to order its soldiers into an unknown world, as it lacks knowledge of the capacities, positions and tactics that await them. He said Israel fears a scene of destroyed tanks, burned vehicles, disfigured corpses and dead or captured soldiers.

At the climax of Israeli preparation for a ground operation, information was leaked about efforts to establish a cease-fire. The most important such effort was a July 10 telephone conversation between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A Palestinian figure in Gaza who acts as a mediator between Hamas and the West revealed to Al-Monitor, “The US administration is making an effort to calm tensions between Hamas and Israel by means of its indirect communication with Hamas through its allies in Qatar and Turkey. This represents progress for the United States, given that it considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Nonetheless, the United States could overlook that classification in order to prevent the region from exploding.”

He added, “The Obama administration does not want wars in the region, and it is attempting to act as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas to arrive at a middle ground accepted by both sides. But its efforts are blocked by two considerations: first, the obstinacy of the current Israeli government, which has not yet achieved a military victory, and second, Hamas’ intention to lift the blockade of Gaza, implement reconciliation [with Fatah] and establish international guarantees for any potential cease-fire, which would partially open the door for future dialogue.”

During his speech in Doha on the evening of July 9, Khaled Meshaal, head of the Hamas political bureau, noted that he had received messages from Western and Eastern countries calling for a cease-fire and a halt to the firing of rockets. He refused those requests because Israel had initiated the hostilities, and emphasized the impossibility of a return to the formula of reciprocal de-escalation.

In his July 11 speech to the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television station, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any prerequisites for a cease-fire. He noted that he had requested that Washington put pressure on Israel to stop its military operations, and had unsuccessfully tried to convince Hamas to halt its rocket launches.

Al-Monitor spoke to an official from the Palestinian Authority who revealed that “Israel wants to return to the agreements of the 2012 war — loosening the blockade on Gaza, expanding the area in which Gazans are permitted to fish and ending the isolation of the eastern zone. But Hamas has made greater demands, the most important of which is the release of 56 prisoners who were arrested following the recent Hebron operation, permission to import construction materials into Gaza, the opening of the Rafah crossing, the end of Israeli assassinations of Hamas members and the lifting of Israel’s veto on the reconciliation deal (between Hamas and Fatah).”

Al-Monitor learned from a Hamas media official that Qatar, Turkey, the United States, the European Union, Russia and the UN are seeking a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. Egypt proposed a cease-fire on Monday, which Israel is considering, while Hamas is insisting on its demands to lift the siege.

A high-ranking employee at the Arab League in Cairo informed Al-Monitor that Hamas “has requested new mediators to guarantee a cease-fire with Israel, including the United States, Russia and the UN, along with Qatar and Turkey, rather than allow Egypt to play that role alone.” US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to visit Cairo on Tuesday to push for a cease-fire deal.

A Hamas source located in Doha told Al-Monitor that Meshaal “is engaging in marathon around-the-clock negotiations, including personal meetings with European, Turkish, Qatari and Russian parties. The United States is communicating with him indirectly through mediators, fearing that Israel and Hamas will cross the point of no return — the launching of a ground operation. Meshaal has received an order from the organization’s political and military leadership located inside and outside of Gaza to not halt the fighting until we have achieved for our people a total lifting of the siege, the opening of Rafah, the ability to establish a seaport and the end of the seizure of the West Bank.”

He concluded by saying, “The war on Gaza began after Israel reneged on the 2012 cease-fire. After this bloodshed and sacrifice, we will not accept anything less than the satisfaction of every one of Hamas’ demands. Hamas is ready for a battle that may last for quite a while, but we cannot accept this war’s cessation and Gaza’s return to the policy of slow death at any price. For that reason, it seems too soon to speak of a cease-fire.”

Adnan Abu Amer is dean of the Faculty of Arts at Al Ummah University Open Education and head of the Press and Information Section as well as a lecturer in the history of the Palestinian issue, national security, political science and Islamic civilization. He holds a doctorate in political history from the Demashq University and has published a number of books on issues related to the contemporary history of the Palestinian cause and the Arab-Israeli conflict. On Twitter: @adnanabuamer1

Palestinian rocket fire persists after Israel agrees to Gaza truce

By Nidal Al Mughrabi and Dan Williams, Reuters
July 15, 2014

JERUSALEM–Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel on Tuesday after it agreed to an Egyptian proposal to end the week-old Gaza conflict, and a Hamas leader said the Islamist group was still undecided on whether to accept the ceasefire.

Under the terms of the blueprint announced by Egypt – whose military-backed government has been at odds with Hamas – a mutual “de-escalation” of fighting was to begin at 9 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT), with hostilities ceasing within 12 hours.

Rocket salvoes were fired at Israel after 9 a.m. and live television showed the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepting several projectiles over the port city of Ashdod, where a factory was hit. Emergency services said no one was hurt.

Sirens sounded in other parts of southern Israel after what Channel Two television reported had been volleys of at least 10 rockets.

Israel said it had halted its attacks in the Gaza Strip but would respond strongly if Palestinian strikes persisted.

At Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved the Egyptian offer, an official statement said. Political sources said the vote in the forum was 6-2.

Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, rejected the reported text of the deal announced by Egypt, Gaza’s neighbor, saying: “Our battle with the enemy continues and will increase in ferocity and intensity.”

But Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official who was in Cairo, said the movement had made no final decision.

“We are still in consultation and there has been no official position made by the (Hamas) movement regarding the Egyptian proposal,” Moussa Abu Marzouk, who was in Cairo, said in a Facebook posting.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said earlier on Tuesday that the Islamist group had not received an official ceasefire proposal, and he repeated its position that demands it has made must be met before it lays down its weapons.

Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official and envoy to Cairo, said Hamas had been weakened by the air and sea bombardment of Gaza that medical officials in the densely populated enclave said has killed at least 184 people, many of them civilians. “Look at the balance, and you see that Hamas tried every possible means of striking at Israel,” Gilad told Israel’s Army Radio. Hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel have caused no fatalities, largely due to Iron Dome. But the strikes have disrupted life across the country and sent people rushing into shelters.

Israel had mobilized tens of thousands of troops for a threatened Gaza invasion if the rocket salvoes persisted in the worst flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities in two years.

“We still have the possibility of going in, under cabinet authority, and putting an end to them (the rockets),” Gilad said.

In overnight attacks, Israel said it had bombed 25 sites in Gaza. Palestinian medical officials said a 63-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were killed.

CEASEFIRE TERMS

Under the ceasefire proposal announced by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, high-level delegations from Israel and the Palestinian factions would hold separate talks in Cairo within 48 hours to consolidate the ceasefire with “confidence-building measures”.

The surge in hostilities over the past week was prompted by the murder last month of three Jewish seminary students in the occupied West Bank and the revenge killing on July 2 of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem. Israel said on Monday three Jews in police custody had confessed to killing the Palestinian.

Hamas leaders have said a ceasefire must include an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and a recommitment to a truce reached in an eight-day war there in 2012. Hamas also wants Egypt to ease restrictions at its Rafah crossing with Gaza imposed after the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July.

The Egyptian proposal made no mention of Rafah or when restrictions might be eased. It said only that “crossings shall be opened and the movement of persons and goods through (them) shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground”.

Hamas has faced a cash crisis and Gaza’s economic hardship has deepened as a result of Egypt’s destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels. Cairo accuses Hamas of aiding anti-government Islamist militants in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, an allegation the Palestinian group denies.

Hamas has said it also wants the release of hundreds of its activists arrested in the West Bank while Israel searched for the three missing teens. The detainees include more than 50 Hamas men freed from Israeli jails in a 2011 prisoner exchange.

The proposed truce made no mention of the detainees in stipulating that “other issues, including security issues, shall be discussed with the sides”.

The Arab League said in a statement it welcomed the Egyptian initiative “to protect the lives of the innocent”. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who reached an agreement with Hamas in April that led to the formation of a unity government last month, urged acceptance of the proposal, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Noah Browning in Gaza and Michael Georgy and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo

See also
Hamas will to fight shocks all, Shlomi Eldar, July 11th.