Egypt: Gaza truce close
2008-05-21 11:36
Cairo - Egypt said it was close to hammering out a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants to end Gaza violence that had overshadowed peacemaking efforts, but Israel on Wednesday played down talk of a deal.
Egyptian state media had announced that Israel agreed in principle to a truce in and around Gaza, but Israeli officials neither confirmed nor denied such an agreement, saying the talks were continuing.
"Israeli leaders (have informed us) of their support for and understanding of the Egyptian proposals for a truce," Egypt's official MENA news agency quoted a senior official as saying on Tuesday.
Israel said it was "ready to implement it as soon as Israeli leaders have been notified of the agreement of Palestinian organisations to parts of the truce proposals", the official added, without giving his name.
Calming of violence
He called on Palestinian militant groups to respond positively to the Israeli move, saying they should not "pass up this historic opportunity".
But Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Arye Mekel said that "the question is to know whether there will be a calming of violence in the Gaza Strip, and for the time being, nothing is concluded and nothing is agreed to".
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesperson Mark Regev said that "we can only indicate that contacts are continuing".
Israel's Haaretz daily said the Jewish state was "awaiting a detailed Egyptian response concerning Palestinian positions by the end of the week".
The announcement came after a day of renewed bloodshed in the territory controlled by the Islamist Hamas movement since last June with four people being killed in Israeli air raids, one of them a 13-year-old boy.
450 Palestinians freed
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman - who had acted as go-between in the negotiations between Israel and the militants - on Tuesday conveyed the Israeli offer to a delegation from Hamas.
A broader meeting of Palestinian factions was planned to "discuss the modalities of the next phase and the start of implementation with intensified efforts by Egypt to resolve the two issues of an exchange of prisoners... and the complete lifting of the blockade", MENA said.
Suleiman presented Egypt's initial proposals to Israeli leaders on May 12 after securing the endorsement of 12 Palestinian factions.
But Israeli officials made their agreement conditional on progress in negotiations for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for almost two years since his capture in a deadly cross-border raid.
Hamas had been insisting that Shalit's freedom was an entirely separate issue from the proposed truce and had been demanding the release of some 450 Palestinians from Israeli jails in exchange.
The Islamists had also been demanding the lifting of an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed after they seized power from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas almost a year ago.