President Abbas to discuss ceasefire with Egyptian president

Monday June 09, 2008 16:17 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Monday with his Egyptian counterpart, Husni Mubarak, within talks over Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Palestinians and Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Over the past couple of months, Cairo has been mediating a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, however, Israel is yet to respond to such an initiative.

The ceasefire proposal stipulates that Hamas will halt the fire of homemade shells into Israeli territory, in exchange for Israel lifting the 12 month-blockade and ceasing all military attacks against the Gaza Strip

Palestinian sources said that Abbas' visit to Cairo is also a part of underway tour in some Arab capitals after Abbas called for renewed dialogue with the ruling Hamas party in Gaza to end rivalry between Fatah and Hamas.

The sources added that Abbas spoke over phone with Mubarak last week and that Mubarak welcomed the initiative of the Palestinian President for dialogue with the Hamas party.

Mubarak also expressed willingness to host such a dialogue in Cairo.

Abbas called last week for the resumption of Fatah-Hamas talks, stalled since Hamas took over Gaza in June2007, on basis of a Yemeni-sponsored initiative of conciliation between the two rival parties.

Hamas welcomed the Abbas's initiative and ordered its own media outlets to stop incitement against Fatah, while Fatah-run media institutions in the West Bank were ordered the same by the Ramallah-based government, the sources maintained.

ramallah | palestinian politics | news report rami at imemc dot org