Hamas: Truce if Israel ends deception
Palestinian group Hamas has ruled out any formal halt to resistance operations as long as Israel continues to what it calls deceive and procrastinate.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday: “Nothing encourages us to declare a truce while Israel continues to procrastinate and sticks to its policies of deception.”
“The statements made by Jibril Rajub are not exact. He was speaking in his name and the name of Fatah and he has no right to speak on behalf of all the factions,” he added.
Earlier, Palestinian national security adviser Jibril Rajub said all resistance groups were ready to observe a ceasefire.
Describing the development as a “historic change”, Rajub told Israel Public Radio: “Today there is also a decision under which all the groups would observe a cooling off in the occupied territories in order to give time to the Palestinian Authority to conclude an agreement with Israel.”
Negotiated solution
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“Nothing encourages us to declare a truce while Israel continues to procrastinate and its policies of deception” |
“Israel must understand that there cannot be a military solution, only a negotiated solution,” Rajub added.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said on Tuesday the Palestinian groups will meet in Cairo on March 15 in a bid to “strengthen national unity”.
“We are going to listen to the proposals put forward in Cairo and decide on our position as a result,” Abu Zuhri said.
But he stressed that Hamas would refuse to announce a ceasefire “if Israel does not respect the conditions tabled by the Palestinian organisations, chiefly on the release of Palestinian prisoners”.