CAIRO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's intelligence chief
Omar Suleiman has told Hamas that the mediator would convey Israel's final reply
to a proposed 18-month truce in the Gaza Strip in the coming few days, the
official MENA news agency reported Monday.
"Egypt would receive the Israeli side's final reply
to the truce agreement after a couple of days," said a Hamas official, who took
part Monday in a fresh round of truce talks between Suleiman and a Hamas
delegation led by its politburo deputy chief Moussa Abu Marzouk.
The unnamed official, however, criticized "Israel's
attempt to link the truce agreement with the release of captured Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit", saying it "is a political blackmail."
Hamas announced Thursday night the group has accepted
an 18-month truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip on condition that the enclave's
six border crossings with Israel should be reopened and the Jewish country "stop
military actions and aggressions in all forms."
Yet outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said
Saturday that there is no truce with Hamas before the release of its captive
soldier Shalit, who was captured by Hamas-led militants in a cross-border raid
in June 2006.
Hamas demands Israel pardon more than 1,000
Palestinian prisoners from its jails in exchange for Shalit's release. Israel
refused the request for fear that some prisoners on the list might endanger the
country.
Olmert's last-ditch efforts to retrieve the soldier
were rejected Sunday by the militant group, which insists that the prison swap
is isolated from the truce deal.
Earlier on Monday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
said in Manama that his country would continue the mediation efforts between the
two sides despite the new setbacks.
"The release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is a
separate issue and cannot be linked to the truce," Mubarak said while meeting
with his Bahraini counterpart Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.
Egypt has been endeavoring to secure a lasting truce
between Hamas and Israel to replace the fragile ceasefire declared on Jan.18
separately by both sides, which ended Israel's 22-day massive assault in the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Cairo also proposed an inter-Palestinian dialogue on
Feb. 22 and a Gaza reconstruction conference on March 2.
JERUSALEM, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israel's premiership
contender Tzipi Livni said on Monday that her country must give up part of the
land currently under its control in exchange for peace with the Palestinians.
"I do believe Israel is fighting for existence" and
must concede part of its land "in order to remain a Jewish and democratic
state," local daily Ha'aretz quoted the incumbent foreign minister as saying to
visiting American Jewish leaders. Full story
RAMALLAH, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Monday that the Palestinian National Authority(PNA)
won't resume the peace talks with Israel until the latter stops settlements'
activities.
Abbas told reporters as he met with Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov at his office in Ramallah that he rejects to start peace
talks with Israel from the scratch as settlements activities in the West Bank
continue. Full story
GAZA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Islamic
Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on Monday its delegation might leave Egypt on
Tuesday and wait for a few days until Cairo receives a final Israeli answer to
an 18-month-truce accepted by the movement.
Taher al-Noono, Hamas' Gaza government spokesman who
is currently in Cairo, said in a written statement sent to reporters that Israel
asked Egypt for a few more days to get a final answer to reaching a truce
agreement with Hamas. Full story
JERUSALEM, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Israel's outgoing Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that his country would not open the border
crossings with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip before the kidnapped Israeli soldier
is released.
"We will not allow the opening of the crossings to
Gaza to the extent that it will bring life back to normal, certainly not before
Gilad Shalit is home," Olmert told visiting American Jewish leaders in
Jerusalem. Full story
GAZA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- A senior Islamic Hamas movement
leader said Sunday his movement would reject any new Israeli conditions to reach
an Egyptian-brokered long-term truce between the two sides.
"Hamas and all other factions won't accept any new
Israeli offers or conditions related to the term of the truce or the case of
captive soldier Gilad Shalit," said Ismail Radwan, the Hamas spokesman in Gaza
Strip. Full story
