PA President says still hope for cease-fire

President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman to discuss Egyptian-backed proposal.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Jordan's King Abdullah (R) welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Royal Palace in Amman (photo credit: REUTERS)
Jordan's King Abdullah (R) welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Royal Palace in Amman
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that there was still hope for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and repeated his call to the two parties to accept the Egyptian-brokered truce proposal.
Abbas was speaking to reporters in Amman after meeting with King Abdullah.
A Jordanian military helicopter flew Abbas from Ramallah to Amman. It’s not clear why Abbas chose to fly to Jordan rather than cross the Allenby Bridge, as he often does.
Abbas said that he and King Abdullah were in agreement that the Egyptian proposal was the only initiative that should be endorsed.
Hamas has rejected the Egyptian cease-fire proposal under the pretext that it serves Israel’s interests and requires the Palestinians to “surrender.”
Abbas said that the Egyptian proposal envisages a ceasefire that would be followed by negotiations over Hamas’s demands to lift the blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2006.
“Until now, there is hope for a cease-fire and we must wait and insist that there could be no solution without alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people,” Abbas said.
He also called for ending the bloodshed and the killing of children, women and the elderly.
Hamas leaders, meanwhile, appeared as defiant as ever.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has effectively conceded defeat in the face of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip.
Another Hamas official, Izat al-Risheq, said that Israeli “aggression and massacres” would only increase the Palestinians’ resolve to pursue the confrontation. He claimed that Israel has thus far failed to make any political or military achievements in its war against Hamas.