Latest NEWS
- Aswat Masriya, the last word
- Roundup of Egypt's press headlines on March 15, 2017
- Roundup of Egypt's press headlines on March 14, 2017
- Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to be released: lawyer
- Roundup of Egypt's press headlines on March 13, 2017
- Egypt's capital set to grow by half a million in 2017
- Egypt's wheat reserves to double with start of harvest -supply min
- Roundup of Egypt's press headlines on March 12, 2017
Egypt's relation with Hamas, situation in Sinai to affect Palestinian-Israeli talks in Cairo - Palestinian official
A Palestinian woman walks past the ruins of houses which witnesses said were destroyed during the Israeli offensive in Johr El-Deek village near the central Gaza Strip August 17, 2014. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
CAIRO, Nov 14 (Aswat Masriya) - A Palestinian official said Friday that the Egyptian leadership's relationship with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and the security situation in the Sinai, are some of the factors that will affect the resumption of indirect negotiations between Israel and Palestine to be held in Cairo.
A new round of Egypt-mediated Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire negotiations was supposed to resume last month, but was postponed at the request of Egypt after 31 military personnel were killed in a suicide blast which targeted a security checkpoint in Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid last week.
A new date for the negotiations has not been pronounced yet, especially after Egypt announced the closure of the Rafah crossing until further notice.
"There are three incidents that will affect the next round of indirect negotiations with Israel under the auspices of Egypt," State-run MENA quoted Deputy Secretary General of the Democratic Front, Qais Abdul Karim (Abu Laila), as saying. The first is the tense relationship between Fatah and Hamas, the second is the relationship of Hamas and the Egyptian leadership, and the third is the security situation in Sinai.
Abu Laila stressed the importance of exerting the effort required of both Fatah and Hamas to implement and apply reconciliation in reality not in theory.
The Palestinian government recently held Hamas responsible for a series of attacks that targeted the homes of a number of Fatah leaders on Friday, which Hamas has denied.
A long-term truce was announced by Egypt and welcomed by Israel and the Palestinians on August 26, ending a 50 day war that has left 2139 Palestinians killed and over 11,100 injured. On the Israeli side sixty-four soldiers and six civilians were killed.
The cost of rebuilding 17,000 homes destroyed by Israeli bombardment was estimated at 2.5 billion dollars, the Palestinian Authority said earlier, adding that the energy sector will require 250 million dollars after the only power plant in Gaza was destroyed by Israeli missiles.
Egypt and Norway co-hosted an international donors conference on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip on October 12 in Cairo following the recent Israeli bombardment on the Strip.
