Gaza talks resume
August 17, 2014
Both parties reassembled in Cairo on Sunday for negotiations aimed at hammering out a long-term truce. The talks are part of an Egyptian initiative to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which escalated on July 8.
An Egyptian-brokered five-day ceasefire, agreed to on Wednesday, is set to end on Monday at midnight local time (2100 UTC), and negotiators are hoping to strike an agreement before then.
Israel says it will not agree to a lasting ceasefire at the indirect talks unless its security concerns are met and Hamas is disarmed.
"Only if there is a clear answer to Israel's security needs, only then will we agree to reach an understanding," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.
He added that Hamas had suffered significant setbacks in the month-long war, and warned that "defeat on the battlefield" would not be "papered over by a victory at the negotiating table."
End to blockade
Egypt's proposal, seen by AFP, calls for a truce beyond Monday's deadline. According to the news agency, the document also proposes holding new talks in one month's time to focus on the most contentious issues, including a demand for a seaport and airport in Gaza.
Israeli Communications Minister Gilad Erdan told Israel Radio on Sunday that there were some "problematic paragraphs" in the proposal.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Palestinian negotiator told Associated Press his team was "less optimistic" about reaching a deal with Israel before the ceasefire expiry. He said a main stumbling block was Hamas' insistence that Israel pledge to end its seven-year blockade of Gaza, which has crippled the coastal territory's economy and severely limited the freedom of movement for its 1.8 million Palestinian residents.
Calls for peace
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to show their support for peace talks to end the Gaza conflict.
The protest was the largest seen in Israel since the country launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8.
According to the United Nations, almost 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,000 wounded since the war began. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and three civilians have died.
nm/tj (AFP, AP, dpa)