Hamas to delay Cairo visit for next week

Friday May 16, 2008 16:22 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC News

The Islamic Hamas movement delayed a visit to the Egyptian capital, Cairo until next week, a Hamas senior official stated on Friday.

Ayman Taha, A senior Hamas official (Photo; Al-Alam TV)

Hamas was to send a delegation to discuss the Israeli response to the Egyptian proposal for calm in the Gaza Strip.

Ayman Taha told reporters, “We are going to Cairo to meet an Egyptian invitation in order to brief us about the results of the meetings between the head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman and the Israeli officials regarding calm.”

Taha insisted on separating the calm from the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

“We are not against releasing Shalit, however, this file has requirements to be matched. The groups that have Shalit insist on their demands,” Taha said, adding that calm is related to lifting the siege imposed on the Palestinian people, open the border crossing and to end the aggression.

Egypt has been trying to broker calm in the Gaza Strip for more than a month with no results. Israel continue to siege the Gaza Strip and launch air strikes and ground invasions into the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian resistance groups continue to launch home-made Qassam shells at Israel nearby towns.

gaza strip | peace process | news report george at imemc dot org