A HAMAS delegation arrived in Cairo yesterday to discuss the renewal of its one-week unilateral ceasefire which expired on Saturday. Israel is also expected to send an envoy or delegation, says Dr Ahmed Youssef, deputy foreign minister in the de facto Hamas government of Gaza.
Dr Youssef said Hamas might be prepared to extend the ceasefire for a year or a year and a half if its conditions are met.
The movement’s first condition is a lifting of Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza. “The siege is a declaration of war . . . not a sign of a ceasefire. Palestinians are dying gradually due to deprivation caused by the siege.”
He said the terms of the six-month ceasefire which expired on December 19th were violated by Israel. It refused to lift the siege and blockade and its troops continued to shoot at Palestinian farmers trying to till their land near the border and fishermen at sea.
“Egypt understands the situation very well. Egypt will find a way to deal with Israeli violations . . .[former US president Jimmy] Carter suggested his group [the Carter Centre] would serve as monitor to see who is violating” the truce.
Hamas can be expected to rearm through smuggling to defend themselves, he added.
“If the smuggling is from Egypt to Gaza, it is Egypt’s responsibility. Egypt will not accept anybody [foreign forces] on its soil,” he said. “We are not going to have foreign forces. Our experience with the UN has shown that [its forces] protect Israel and prolong the occupation.”
Dr Youssef said the Hamas delegation dispatched to Cairo would not discuss the release of the Israeli soldier captured in June 2006 by Hamas’s affiliates although Israel seeks to link the handover of him to the opening of the goods and fuel crossings between Israel and Gaza.
Hamas will send a separate delegation to Egypt to negotiate on the prisoner issue. There are 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Hamas intends to set the number of prisoners it wants released, list their names, and lay down the modalities of the exchange. “I heard on the news that the Israelis are prepared to show more flexibility now,” he said.
On the vexed question of who would manage reconstruction, Dr Youssef said that “Hamas would like to see UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency] be a major player.” But since UNRWA deals mainly with refugee housing and infrastructure, Hamas would entrust rebuilding to other agencies as well.
“The money should not be put into the hands of corrupt people and companies and it should be used properly to benefit the people.” He said Hamas would not exclude Fatah people who were not corrupt. The corrupt people are well known, he added.
Dr Youssef said Hamas has five priorities: rebuilding Gaza; national reconciliation; repairing the Palestinian social fabric torn by the rift between Hamas and Fatah; cultivating good relations with Arabs and Muslims; and engaging with the international community.
He said Hamas is in constant contact with representatives from the Western countries and hopes that President Barack Obama and his new regional envoy, George Mitchell, will opt for engagement with Hamas. “We want even-handedness and fairness when it comes to handling the conflict,” he said.
The failure to adopt such a policy has made the US “the most hated country in the world. In this region [the Palestinian-Israeli conflict] is considered the ‘mother of all conflicts’,” Dr Youssef said.
“We would like to meet [Mitchell] and put forward the Palestinian political vision.”
Hamas will continue its armed struggle “as long as there is occupation . . . We will stop our violence when there is a free and independent [Palestinian] state within the 1967 borders,” comprised of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Hamas, he said, will continue resisting occupation and will encourage the West Bank population to rejoin the struggle until this goal is met.
He pointed out that while the West Bank is quiet, Israel continues incursions into its cities and arrests Palestinians.
He dismissed reports of divisions in the Hamas leadership.