HANIYEH CALLS FOR FOLLOW-UP COMMITTEE ON CEASEFIRE DEAL

Gaza, 13 Dzulqa’dah 1435/8 September 2014 (MINA) – Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on Sunday for the formation of a committee to follow up on the Aug. 26 ceasefire deal with Israel.

Haniyeh said in a conference at the Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza that a committee to ensure Israel’s implementation of the agreement should be formed by Palestinian factions, the PLO, and the West Bank-Gaza unity government, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

He also demanded that the unity government expand its work in the West Bank and Gaza, a day after President Mahmoud Abbas accused Hamas of running a “shadow government” in Gaza and not respecting the unity government’s jurisdiction.

All political tiffs must stop, Haniyeh said.

Less than two weeks after the declaration of the ceasefire, there have been widespread reports that the fishing zone off the coast of Gaza has not been increased as promised, with at least two instances of Palestinian fishermen claiming to have been fired upon by Israeli forces well within the newly-imposed six-mile limit.

Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip ended over seven weeks of fighting on Aug. 26 with a long-term ceasefire agreement in which Israel agreed to ease its siege on the coastal enclave and immediately expand the fishing zone off its coast.

Abbas, speaking to a group of Egyptian journalists and scholars in Cairo on the first day of a three-day visit, said Saturday that the Palestinian Authority “would not accept the situation in Gaza to continue as it is now and in this shape.”

“There are 27 undersecretaries of ministries who are running the Gaza Strip, and the national consensus government cannot do anything on the ground,” Abbas said, referring to the officials of the former Hamas government who continue to maintain power in Gaza despite an April agreement that led to a government of national unity between PLO and Hamas.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Sunday that Abbas should stop conducting dialogue through the media.

“President Abbas’ remarks against Hamas and the resistance are unjustified and the sources of information and figures he relied on were incorrect and have nothing to do with the truth.” (T/P003/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)