Long-term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel would tear Gaza away from West Bank for good, claims Palestinian Communist party officialHamas is about to sign a “comprehensive” agreement with Israel for the lifting of an eight-year blockade placed on the Gaza Strip in return for a long-term ceasefire, a senior Turkish official said on Sunday. Details of the imminent agreement, reported first by London-based daily al-Hayat on Thursday, have begun to emerge on Hamas news outlets as well over the weekend. According to the reports, Gaza will be allowed to import merchandise through a “floating port” located 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) off the coast. An intermediary port will be established in Cyprus, where all Gaza-bound merchandise will be scrutinized by NATO representatives.
According to Hamas daily al-Resalah, Israel would like to see a larger package deal that would include the exchange of “live and dead Israeli prisoners” held by Hamas — likely a reference to Ethiopian-Israeli citizen Avraham Abere Mengistu and a Bedouin man who both entered the Gaza Strip voluntarily, as well as the remains of Israeli soldiers killed during Operation Protective Edge last summer — in return for Hamas prisoners jailed by Israel.
Israeli Arabic-language website al-Masdar reported on Sunday that Hamas’s leadership held a meeting in Gaza on Friday, specifying the deal’s details. According to al-Masdar’s unnamed Hamas source, Israel has also agreed to allow in thousands of Gazan day laborers through the Erez crossing in return for Hamas’s agreement to stop launching rockets into Israel and digging subterranean attack tunnels underneath the border for a period of at least eight years.
“This agreement is no longer just rumors or blabber, but will be signed any minute,” said Walid Awadh, a member of the political office of the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP), formerly the Communist Party, in Gaza. Officials of PLO factions, such as PPP, have been receiving updates from Hamas on the talks with Blair over the past month, he told The Times of Israel.
Awadh said that his party, like all other PLO factions, is opposed in principle to the deal reached between Hamas and Israel. The agreement, carried out unilaterally by Hamas without consulting the PA, strengthens the political divide with Fatah and will eventually detach Gaza completely from the West Bank and Jerusalem, he argued.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-israel-deal-imminent-to-the-dismay-of-palestinian-factions/Well, Mozel Tov. Looks like the imminent long term cease fire is good for Israel and good for the people of Gaza, and it goes a long way toward improving image of Hamas. As for West Bank Palestinians moaning about not having direct access to the sea, i can bring several examples of countries in the similar situation:
Andorra
Czech Rep
Bolivia
Paraguay and must not forget all-important
Botswana.
None of these countries have access to the sea and never beatch about. Why should West Bank?
All in all, is a step in right direction. By the way, please take note it is Palestinians who are unhappy about improved relations with Israel, and not vise versa.
