Israeli President refuses Hamas offer for a ceasefire

Friday December 21, 2007 23:23 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

For the third time in as many years, the Israeli government has flatly refused an offer for peace made by the Palestinian government led by the Hamas party.

Shimon Perez

“There will be no peace talks with the Palestinians until Qassam [homemade shells made by Palestinian resistance factions] attacks on Israel cease”, said Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday, reiterating the refusal made earlier this week by the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

This puts the impetus entirely on the Palestinians, with no promise that Israel will stop their nightly invasions and daily bombings of the Gaza Strip if the Palestinian resistance stops the firing of homemade shells across the border into Israel.

But Palestinian factions have reason to be doubtful, because past ceasefires which were carried out by Hamas and other resistance factions did not result in a subsequent ending of attacks by Israel. Indeed, during a 2006 ceasefire of three months, in which no Palestinian resistance group fired any shells into Israel, Israeli attacks in the region actually increased.

Every attempt by Hamas to hold out an offer for peace has been refused immediately by the Israeli leadership.

Said Peres in his speech on Friday, “There isn’t a single Israeli soldier or civilian left in Gaza, so why is there still rocket fire? It is imperative that the Qassam [homemade shell] fire cease before all else.” His statement, while nominally accurate, omits the various parts of the Israeli occupation which are still in place: the daily invasions, daily bombings, full closure and imprisonment of all Palestinians inside Gaza due to full Israeli control of all borders, the lack of electricity or infrastructure in Gaza due to Israeli bombing – and inability to rebuild due to the Israeli siege preventing imports and exports, and the Israeli control of all parts of the sea and air of Gaza.

In addition, there are the sound bombs that the Israeli forces drop into Gaza on a daily basis – at one point there were sound bombs every fifteen seconds for months on end, day and night, giving the population of Gaza no rest. In fact, Israeli forces continue to control most aspects of the lives of Gaza residents, leading many Palestinians to call Peres' Friday statement rather disingenuous.

palestine | peace process | news report saed at imemc dot org