Abbas calls for a parallel ceasefire

Friday February 08, 2008 05:58 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, stated on Thursday that he is willing to act in order to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which is controlled by the rival Hamas party.

Palestinian President - Mahmoud Abbas

Nabeel Abu Rodeina, spokesperson of Abbas,  told France Presse that “Abbas is willing to conducts utmost efforts to achieve ceasefire in order to stop the daily massacres that the Palestinians are facing on Gaza”.

Abu Rodeina added that Abbas previously stated that the Palestinian Authority is ready to be in charge of the borders crossings in the Gaza Strip in order to relief the suffering of the people.

On Wednesday, Abbas called for lifting the Israeli siege over the Gaza Strip in order to allow humanitarian aid into the region and allow the residents to enter and leave the coastal area.

 The statements of Abbas came during a joint press conference with the Australian Foreign Minister, Ursula Plassnik.

During the conference, Abbas called on Israel to stop the collective punishment measures against the Palestinian people.

Abbas added that the talks with Plassnik focused on the conditions in the Gaza Strip and the means to resolve them. 

Plassnik stated that the Australian government supports Abbas and his government and added that it is essential to achieve a peace plan which will resolve all conflicting issues. In order to achieve real peace in the region.

ramallah | international politics | news report saed at imemc dot org