Hamas: Egyptian ceasefire proposal equates between aggressor and resistance

A Cairo-based Hamas leader confirmed yesterday that he submitted his movement’s official rejection of the Egyptian truce proposal to the Egyptian government.

Hamas spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri, said earlier that Hamas rejected the Egyptian initiative from the beginning, but sent its official rejection yesterday following “internal consultations”.

Informed sources explained Hamas’ decision to Quds.com, saying that the decision was not merely because of the manner the proposal was announced through the media, nor because of Egypt’s disregard of key resistance players on the ground, but it was due to “more serious and critical reasons”. He pointed out that articles I and II in the initiative equated between the aggressor and the victim. Israel, he said, is the aggressor, while the resistance is in a position of “legitimate self-defence”.

The source commented on the term “hostile acts” mentioned in the initiative, both in 2012 and 2014, saying that “the new context is worse than the one used in 2012, because it added a fourth condition on regulating Palestinian behaviour”.

He voiced Hamas’ “genuine and legitimate” concerns over Egyptian assurances to Israel regarding the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.

Furthermore, the source added that the concept of “confidence-building measures” used in the proposal cannot be endorsed by Hamas, which has no agreement with Israel, unlike the Palestinian Authority. “There is nothing called ‘confidence-building’ when it comes to resistance against a brutal occupier,” he stressed.

Concerning the clause which states that borders and crossings shall be opened depending on the stabilisation of security conditions on the ground, the source said: “Who would determine when security conditions are stable or not?” He considered the clause a sign of “insistence to keep the situation in Gaza as it was before this war.”