Mubarak, Abbas discuss implementing UNSC resolution, Egyptian initiative

Talks between Egypt, Hamas delegation "positive", Egyptian official source

Egyptian FM asserts Egypt will never be way for Hamas armament

Barak, Livni disagree with Olmert, want quick end to Gaza fighting

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday had talks with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas on ways to implement the UNSC resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip.

The two leaders also pored over the mechanism to put Egypt's initiative on ending Israeli military escalation in the enclave into force.

Abbas posted Mubarak on outcome of his contacts with the UN and US administration officials and in Spain on an actual implementation of the UNSC resolution.

The two leaders first held tête-à-tête talks and were later joined on the Egyptian side by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and on the Palestinian side by Yasser Abd Rabboh, Secretary General of the PLO executive committee, Chief of Negotiations Affairs department Sa'eb Erekat, Palestinian Ambassador Nabil Amr and Presidential advisor Nabil abu-Rdeinah.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that his main target right now is to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and to activate the Egyptian imitative that was included in a recent UN Security Council resolution that called for immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Egypt is making intensive contacts that aim at bringing the aggression to an end, he told a news conference after a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

A Hamas delegation has already arrived in Cairo for talks with the Egyptian officials on ways to reach a ceasefire with the Israelis, Abbas said voicing hope that a deal would be struck and that no more time would be wasted.

Abbas blamed Israel for the incessant bloodletting in Gaza. "The Palestinians want peace, but Tel Aviv still wouldn't budge and still rejects the Egyptian ceasefire initiative," he said.

Contacts are going on with the Israeli side to end the hostilities and stop the destruction of the Palestinian people, he said.

He stressed the importance of the Egyptian initiative that calls for an immediate cessation of fire. "The initiative is the mechanism through which Security Council resolution 1860 can be implemented," he said.

Describing the current situation in Gaza as "most dangerous and tragic", he said "we are now back from the UN to closely follow up efforts to end the Israeli aggression."

"We are calling for the presence of an international force to protect the Palestinians," Abbas said. "This call is nothing new. It is 30 years old," he also said, noting that he just wants to drive home a point which is that the presence of an international force should be on Palestinian lands only. Egypt's lands should not be at any time compromised, he stressed.

"We want an international protection force to be deployed in the Gaza Strip and not on the Egyptian borders," he emphasized.

Though Resolution 1860 does not seem to be having any direct impact on the on-the-ground situation in the Gaza Strip, yet it was the best that could be reached, he said. The stand the Arab nations had taken at the Security Council was really great, he said highlighting the miraculous efforts exerted by the Arab ministerial delegation under Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa to convince the Security Council to pass the resolution.

He said that the Egyptian initiative that was floated by President Mubarak shortly before the Security Council met to make its decision was well timed. "We are pinning our hopes on the initiative and wish that it will help bring an end to the Israeli aggression," he said.

Commenting on Hamas reservations about the initiative, he said "we are being pressed for time, and besides, the reservations are not that deep. Egypt will simply tell the Israelis of these reservations and will try to work out a solution with them, he added.

The Palestinian Authority is willing to attend any meeting that can help bring about a ceasefire, Abbas said.

Asked about claims saying that a ceasefire would mean an end to the resistance, he said: "We want peace. The resistance is not an end in itself, it is just a means to an end. If the resistance means the destruction of the Palestinian people then we don't want it."

Saying that he is glad that the United States had not blocked the passing of the Security Council resolution, he also added that he however does not believe that the US's refraining from using its veto power was a step forward.

Emphasizing the importance of the Egyptian initiative, he said that what can help make it a good mechanism for implementing the Security Council resolution is that it contains clear and specific points.

Asked whether there are plans for a meeting between him and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he said the issue was not on the table at present. Right now the only thing on the table is bringing an end to the Israeli aggression, he said.

"We believe in peace. The Arab initiative is clear on that," he said.

Asserting the importance of national reconciliation to bring the Palestinian factions back to the fold, he said Hamas is part of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people, but this does not give it the right to work independently from them.

Abbas highlighted the European role in the region underscoring promises by senior European officials to support the Palestinians in the current crisis at the political economic and humanitarian levels.

Palestinian factions based in Syria said they rejected the deployment of any international troops or observers in the Gaza Strip, the official SANA news agency reported.

Leaders of 10 Palestinian factions, including the exiled Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Shalah and Ahmed Jibril of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, made the rejection in a statement after a meeting in Damascus.

"The deployment of international forces in the Gaza Strip aims at neutralizing the resistance in Gaza in light of continuing occupation and separation of Gaza from the West Bank," said Muhammad Nazzal, a senior official of Hamas.

He added that they rejected the deployment of international forces in Gaza because it will only protect Israel.

"Hamas has a set of observations on the Egyptian initiative that must be dealt with positively," he noted, referring to a three-point proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza presented by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The leaders underlined the necessity for any initiative or proposal to include stopping the Israeli aggression on Gaza immediately, withdrawing the occupation forces and lifting the siege to Gaza to allow the delivery of foodstuffs and medical aids.

The statement also refused "any security arrangements that affect the resistance and legitimate right to struggle against the occupation."

"The UN Security Council resolution 1860 does not meet the demands and the national interests of the Palestinian people and harms the resistance and the essence of the Palestinian issue," said the statement.

About 824 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,500 injured since Dec. 27 when Israel launched offensive against Gaza in retaliation for the rocket attacks by Hamas militants.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad voiced the Palestinian National Authority's support for a Franco-Egyptian ceasefire proposal. "We think the initiative is positive," Fayyad told journalists at a media conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We also support the United Nations' Security Council resolution requiring a ceasefire from Israel."

Fayyad, who is aligned with Fatah, was appointed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas but has not been confirmed by the Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament dominated by the rival Hamas organization.

"We call on the UN Secretary General and Security Council member countries to immediately take the necessary measures to put pressure on Israel for a ceasefire and to protect civilians in Gaza," he said.

Key points of the Franco-Egyptian plan are believed to include an immediate ceasefire, opening of the border crossings and the establishment of an international force to bring an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza from Egypt.

Fayyad said the PA condemned Israel's rejection of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860 passed by the 15-nation body with the abstention of the United States.

He did not comment on the fact that the militant Hamas group rejected the same resolution.

The UN resolution calls for "an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert said the resolution was "unworkable".

Hamas said it had not been consulted over the resolution's wording and stressed that Israel must end its three-year-long economic blockade of the territory as well as ending the current military offensive.

Palestinian medical officials say 900 Palestinians have been killed and over 4,100 injured in the offensive, which has left the aid-dependent territory on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Mass protests have taken place around the world over Israel's action, which it says is aimed at ending Hamas' ability to fire rockets into Israel.

In Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak conferred with Envoy of the Middle East Quartet Tony Blair at the presidency HQ in Heliopolis on efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in light of the Egyptian initiative.

Talks also took up aid delivery to the Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and British Ambassador Dominic Asquith attended the meeting.

International Quartet representative Tony Blair asserted full support for the Egyptian ceasefire initiative for Gaza as a mechanism for halting violence and bringing the peace process back on track.

In statements to the press following his meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, Blair said the international community is doing its best to respect and implement UN Security Council resolution 1680 on the Gaza ceasefire, voicing belief that elements for reaching that end are currently available.

He referred to intensifying contacts over the past few days to reach an agreement on an immediate ceasefire.

Asked about the new Quartet's strategy for ending the Gaza crisis, Blair said ceasefire comes first followed by reconstruction in the coastal enclave, calling for reconciliation among the various Palestinian factions.

As for the timetable expected for reaching a ceasefire, he expressed hope that this would take place in the coming few days.

He said he sensed President Mubarak's keenness on reaching a ceasefire immediately, adding that the only way to do that is to reach a lasting and credible agreement to avoid repetition of the attacks.

He asserted the need for a unified Palestinian stand that paves the way for the establishment of an independent state.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit held a session of talks with visiting Spanish counterpart Miguel Moratinos on continued Egyptian efforts to swiftly bring the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip to a halt.

The two sides' talks also took up a widely backed Egyptian initiative to stem Palestinians' bloodletting in Gaza.

The Egyptian formula provides a new mechanism to put the UNSC resolution no 1860 into effect.

Moratinos arrived in Cairo to discuss with Egyptian officials ways to stop the bloodshed in Gaza and end Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry's Protocol Department deputy director welcomed Moratinos at Cairo Airport.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Abul-Gheit said that his meeting with Moratinos focused on the situation in Gaza and means to stop Israel's offensive.

Egyptian-Spanish consultations also took up Egypt's vision of means to alleviate the Palestinian people's suffering in Gaza and Egypt's role on this score, Abul-Gheit said.

Abul-Gheit also posted Moratinos on the Egyptian drive to hold an international meeting at the level of foreign ministers to ensure the delivery of desperately needed aid to the Palestinians and help reconstruct the Gaza Strip.

Abul-Gheit added that he held contacts with a number of European and international parties, including the European Union Commission and Norway, in this regard.

For his part, Moratinos asserted that his country is seeking to reach a ceasefire in Gaza through continuous diplomacy with the parties concerned.

He pointed out that he will head for Israel for talks with officials there in this respect and will then return to Cairo.

The Spanish foreign minister urged all countries concerned to have a role in ending the ongoing tragedy in Gaza where people are dying every day.

Egyptian Minister Omar Soliman's talks with a visiting Hamas delegation have realized positive outcome, said an Egyptian official source.

The two sides have agreed that the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip should be brought to a halt as soon as possible, the source told MENA.

Thousands of Gazans have been killed and injured in the ongoing Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave.

Soliman has explained to the Hamas delegation the initiative launched recently by President Hosni Mubarak for clinching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave, said the source.

The initiative aims to reach an agreement on a truce to be followed by inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

Soliman and the Hamas delegation will resume talks, said the source.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Saturday held a session of talks with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Steinmeier is currently on a visit to Egypt, during which he will be received by President Hosni Mubarak.

In a joint press conference with the German minister, Abul-Gheit said that he held a plenary session of talks with Steinmeier on the Israeli military operations, the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza ceasefire and an Egyptian initiative for Gaza truce.

The Egyptian proposal is a "mechanism" to put into effect the Security Council's resolution, he said.

Steinmeier said that more efforts need to be exerted to activate Egypt's role in securing the borders and stopping the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip.

We agreed that Germany would mandate a number of German experts to meet with their Egyptian counterparts and discuss means of cooperation in securing the borders, Steinmeier said.

Commenting on Egyptian-German cooperation in this respect, Abul-Gheit said that smuggling weapons from Egypt into Gaza is due to the imposed Israeli blockade on all crossings.

The German foreign minister said that his talks aimed at ending violence in all its forms, noting that Egyptian, German and European efforts all aimed at halting further destruction in the region.

In Beirut, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman Saturday said Israel should implement UN Security Council resolution 1860 calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza strip and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, local Elnashra website reported.

"All reactions which occurred were due to Israel's arrogance and tyranny against the Palestinian people who were deprived of their rights," Suleiman said at Baabda palace.

He said that Israel should withdraw from Gaza because "it was the one who occupied the strip."

Suleiman said "the occupation keeps committing massacres against the children," adding that "history never witnessed such ugly crimes."

The Lebanese president has been calling for an urgent Arab summit to reach a unified Arab stand against Israel's war on Gaza.

Sleiman said after meeting a delegation from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) that Palestinians in Lebanon will live in better conditions if they assist Lebanese authorities in disarming Palestinian groups that are based outside the country's refugee camps.

He also called on Palestinian factions in Palestine to follow the example of their compatriots in Lebanon and stand together in the face of Israel.

The president said that Israel had no right to use the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip as a pretext to wage war on Gaza "when in the first place Israel has deprived the Palestinian people of their basic rights, namely the right of refugees to return to their homeland."

For his part, DFLP chief Nayef Hawatmeh, who headed the delegation, said that his party, as well as the vast majority of Palestinians, was against using southern Lebanon as a base for attacking Israel.

He was referring to the recent rocket firing into northern Israel from Tair Harfa.

Three Israelis were wounded in the attacks, with both Hezbollah and Hamas denying any responsibility.

Hezbollah warned Israel over the weekend against using the attacks as a pretext to spark conflict with Lebanon.

In another development, Berri told Foreign Ministry officials that "Lebanon was not too far from the conflict in Gaza."

"We cannot say that Lebanon is not part of the current conflict in Gaza unless we decide to abandon the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and accept the resettlement of refugees in Lebanon," the speaker said.

"The defeat of the Hamas resistance in Gaza would eventually lead to eliminating the right of refugees to return to their homes ... Only then would resettlement [in host countries like Lebanon] become a reality," he added.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun slammed the United Nations for failing to deal with the situation in Gaza despite the issuance of a Security Council resolution to end the war.

Aoun accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity in Gaza and said that he would ask Ban upon his arrival to tell him whether the UN was planning to hold Israel accountable for its crimes in Gaza.

Addressing local issues, the former Lebanese Armed Forces commander renewed his criticism of alleged plans to form a "centrist" parliamentary bloc during next year's parliamentary elections.

"Forming a neutral bloc is meaningless ... Such a bloc will have no content whatsoever," he argued.

Commenting on the situation in Gaza, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader and MP Walid Jumblatt told his party's Al-Anbaa weekly that the current tragedy in the enclave necessitates the rebuilding of Palestinian national unity. Jumblatt urged both Hamas and Fatah to join efforts to produce a unified national program that would pave the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The PSP chief also urged the West to get over its "Holocaust complex" and look at the current holocaust that is taking place in Palestine.

"There are more than 900 dead Palestinians and 10 dead Israelis," the MP noted. "Who is the aggressor?"

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made a phone call with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and discussed with him means to implement UNSC resolution number 1860.

He also phoned Arab League Secretary General and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani.

The war in Gaza escalated as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet and a national television audience Israel Defense Forces in Gaza "were nearing their goals" and would not stop fighting until they had achieved them.

Dismissing complaints from abroad about the strong Israeli offensive in Gaza and its refusal to consider a ceasefire, Olmert told his cabinet: "No country in the world, even those preaching morals to us, would have shown the tolerance and restraint that we have.

"We have never agreed that anyone decide for us if we are allowed to strike at those who send missiles into our kindergartens and schools and we never will."

Hamas won’t surrender to Israel even as it conducts negotiations in Egypt aimed at ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip, one of its leaders said in a broadcast.

"Gaza will not falter; our triumph over the Zionists is close," said Ismail Haniya, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas’s political leader in Gaza, in a pre-taped address broadcast on the movement’s television station.

Haniya left open the possibility that a negotiated solution could end the fighting.

"We are working on two parallel tracks: The first is the track of resistance and steadfastness, and the second is the political track to confront the military aggression on our people," said Haniya.

It was only the second time that Haniya, who has been in hiding to avoid being targeted by Israeli forces, addressed a speech to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the conflict on Dec. 27. His comments contradict earlier statements by Hamas’s Damascus-based leadership that it wouldn’t pursue negotiations while fighting raged.

A delegation of Hamas officials returned to Cairo to continue talks with Egyptian officials on how to achieve a cease- fire, said Egypt’s presidential spokesman, Suliman Awad.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israeli troops will keep fighting in the Gaza Strip until Hamas rockets no longer pose a threat to the south of the country.

"I don’t need Hamas to sign on a piece of paper," Livni said in discussing efforts to broker a truce during an interview with Army Radio. What’s more important, she said, is that when Palestinians fire rockets into Israel, "they know they will be hurt."

Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres said that Israeli forces are achieving 'remarkable' results in Gaza.

"What we achieved in 16 days was not achieved by any country in the world fighting terror in 16 years," Peres told reserves soldiers at the Zeelim base in the Negev, "This time we must make sure that this impression sticks."

Peres continued to say that Israel has "never had an army that was better trained, organized and sophisticated than the one you all are a part of."

"The IDF is devoid of politics or whims, and there is a feeling that Israel has reestablished its deterrence. I have come here on behalf of all Israelis to thank you and wish you continued success," he said.

Reservists who have completed their training in Zeelim are awaiting the political echelon's decision on the possible expansion of the IDF's operation in Gaza and their deployment in the Strip.

A military official said the second phase of Operation Cast Lead, which included a ground incursion into Gaza, has almost run its course.

Sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed that he continues to disagree with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni regarding the question of continuing the warfare in Gaza, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The so-called troika met last evening to discuss the subject, and both Barak and Livni reportedly argued for ending Operation Cast Lead as soon as possible.

This is apparently the reason Olmert wants to present the issue to the security cabinet, where the majority supports his view.

Livni contends that continuing the offensive could harm the deterrence it has achieved so far and damage Israel diplomatically.

Barak objects mainly to inserting ground troops deep into densely populated areas of Gaza.

For his part, Olmert told the full cabinet that stopping Operation Cast Lead now would be a missed opportunity.

Olmert's associates also said no one in the security cabinet supported Livni's position and that a few Labor ministers support Barak's position that an agreement should be reached with Hamas.

An Israeli newspaper unveiled that senior officials close to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed veiled criticism at Defense Minister Ehud Barak for his backing of truce efforts.

"Hamas senior officials see these images and hear these voices and draw encouragement from the notion that Israel is looking for a way out," officials were quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying.

"We regret the irresponsibility of ministers leaking information regarding their own private initiatives - as high ranking as these ministers may be," they added.

Israeli Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan warned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a harshly-worded letter over the ongoing Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

According to Yediot Ahronot, Eitan threatened that if Operation Cast Lead did not return to its initial goals, he would resign from the Security Cabinet in protest.

Eitan recollected that he called for the postponement of the February 10 election at the start of the operation, saying that his fears that politics would impact the war had been proven justified.

"Some of those who had led an impressive military and diplomatic campaign until the last few days have returned to function as politicians," Eitan wrote to Olmert. "I am warning you that the closer we get to the opening of the ballot boxes, the more intertwined politics will be in decisions about the operation."

Eitan, who worked in Israeli intelligence for decades, warned that time was running out to complete the operation and that if Israel did not achieve its goals soon, the next Israeli prime minister would have to decide to return to Gaza in a few months with a new president in Washington.