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Official TTI Chef
[ 12/05/2008 - 03:53 PM ]
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli premier Ehud Olmert on Monday rejected the Egyptian initiative for calm that was approved by the Palestinian resistance factions and set new conditions to accept it.
Olmert said after meeting Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is currently visiting the Hebrew state to table the initiative, that Israel insists on releasing the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as part of the calm.
He said that Israel is interested in reaching calm but also wants Hamas to stop smuggling combat means from Sinai into the Gaza Strip and to stop upgrading its military capability.
The Israeli army should have a free hand in the West Bank, Olmert said in reference to chasing resistance elements.
Suleiman had earlier met with Israeli war minister Ehud Barak for the same purpose. Barak said that the release of Shalit is a central issue in reaching calm, and added that immediate progress should be made in this regard.
Barak also threatened during the meeting with Suleiman that his government would not remain arms folded vis-à-vis the continued firing of missiles from Gaza and that it would militarily intervene if the shelling did not stop.
For his part, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, one of the prominent Hamas leaders in Gaza, said that his Movement would receive the Israeli response from the Egyptian mediator by Tuesday.
He said that Hamas's stand would be announced according to the new Israeli position, hoping that the Israeli aggression would stop and the siege lifted.
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli premier Ehud Olmert on Monday rejected the Egyptian initiative for calm that was approved by the Palestinian resistance factions and set new conditions to accept it.
Olmert said after meeting Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is currently visiting the Hebrew state to table the initiative, that Israel insists on releasing the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as part of the calm.
He said that Israel is interested in reaching calm but also wants Hamas to stop smuggling combat means from Sinai into the Gaza Strip and to stop upgrading its military capability.
The Israeli army should have a free hand in the West Bank, Olmert said in reference to chasing resistance elements.
Suleiman had earlier met with Israeli war minister Ehud Barak for the same purpose. Barak said that the release of Shalit is a central issue in reaching calm, and added that immediate progress should be made in this regard.
Barak also threatened during the meeting with Suleiman that his government would not remain arms folded vis-à-vis the continued firing of missiles from Gaza and that it would militarily intervene if the shelling did not stop.
For his part, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, one of the prominent Hamas leaders in Gaza, said that his Movement would receive the Israeli response from the Egyptian mediator by Tuesday.
He said that Hamas's stand would be announced according to the new Israeli position, hoping that the Israeli aggression would stop and the siege lifted.
