Palestinians Accept Egyptian Plan For A New Ceasefire

Palestinians have complied with Egypt’s plan for a new ceasefire despite Israel’s reluctance to participate in talks.

It was hoped that a treaty with Israel would have cleared the way for resumptions of negotiation about a long-term peace agreement on the Gaza Strip.

Israel however abandoned the negotiations after the military embarked on rocket firing on south of Israel after a 3 day treaty came to an end.

The decision was aimed to bring Israel back to the discussions.

However, no immediate response was received from Israel.

A negotiator from Palestine said that they had gone there in search of an agreement, which could not be obtained without discussions, and that is why they had accepted the Egyptians proposal to a 72 hour treaty in order to embark on talks.

Alongside other negotiators who gave a go ahead on the decision, they spoke behind the cameras since they were not allowed to talk to the media.

The Egyptian talks were aimed at providing a long term treaty arrangement between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip after the aftermath of the heaviest war between these bitter rivals since Hamas started controlling Gaza in 2007.

With a month of fighting, over 1900 Palestine nationals were killed, nearly 10,000 left badly injured and even more left homeless. However, just 67 Israelites were killed.

The fight came to a halt after a 72 hour treaty on that Tuesday. Egypt’s aim was to attain even a longer agreement or accord.

However after the expiration of the 3 day treaty, the military resumed their rocket fire leading to new Israeli retaliations.

The aggression continued throughout the weekend although it was not as intense as before.

Earlier last Sunday, Palestinians had threatened to abandon the talks if Israel refused to go back. However, Israeli leaders confessed that there was to be no talks as long as the rocket fire kept going on.

The Israeli Prime Minister reported on that day that they won’t negotiate while under fire. He also said that his military was to take its time.

Hamas was in search of a way to go about the Israeli-Egyptian block that had deteriorated the local economy.

Hamas said that giving up its weapon arsenal, which was believed to consist of several thousand rockets, was unattainable.