Barghouti-led document calls for cessation of attacks from Gaza

A memorandum of understanding issued by the leadership
of Palestinian prisoners in Israel under the patronage
of jailed Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti calls for a
total end to the armed struggle emanating from Gaza if
a series of conditions are met. The conditions detailed
in the document, or "proposal," sent to Fatah, Hamas
and Islamic Jihad, includes "complete Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza, including the `Philadelphi Route’
on the Israeli-Egyptian border; full Palestinian
sovereignty over the Strip, including the sea and air
ports; and the release from Israeli prisons of all Gaza
residents. In exchange for fulfilling the conditions,
"the armed forces in Gaza will be obligated not to
conduct any armed actions from Gaza," according to the
document.

The document is described as an attempt to complement
the dialogue under way among all Palestinian factions
in Gaza, and serve "as an appropriate response, which
will satisfy factions in Gaza, to the assassination of
Abdel Aziz Rantisi." The document proposes defining the
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza "as the most important
achievement of the Palestinians in the intifada after
10 years of Oslo did not move a single mobile home and
during those years, the settlements doubled."

The document is the first clear expression of
Barghouti’s readiness to commit to a cessation of
violence from Gaza following an Israeli withdrawal, and
reflects the dialogue between Palestinian factions
within Israeli prisons and camps. Outside the prisons,
the organizations tend to take a harder line, and it is
unclear whether they will accept the prisoners’ lead.

A senior Fatah official in Gaza yesterday said the
dialogue among the three main factions - Hamas, Fatah
and Islamic Jihad - that began after the assassination
of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin last
month, but was ceased after Rantisi’s killing, will
resume in the upcoming days. The official, one of the
most powerful in the Strip, said the prisoners’
document will serve as the basis for discussions meant
to set a date for local elections in the area and to
try to reach clear understandings among the
organizations over how Gaza will be run once Israel
departs.

The official did not provide details, but said that "if
there is no agreement on general partnership between
the organizations, then there will be a narrower
agreement on the management of the Strip."

He did not rule out enlisting Hamas and Islamic
militants into the PA’s security services "on condition
that they cut ties to those organizations. It would be
in a new framework of the security services in Gaza and
a new definition of their goals and purposes."

Head of Preventive Security in Gaza, Rashid Abu Shbak,
also is not ruling out integrating Hamas and Islamic
Jihad in the security forces as long as there are clear
rules for their participation.

Earlier this month, Haaretz published a draft agreement
between Fatah and Hamas that was hammered out between
Rantisi, senior Fatah officer Ahmed Halas, and Islamic
Jihad representatives. In addition to Hamas recognition
of Fatah’s dominance and its demands for getting
involved in decision making in Gaza, the organizations
agreed to discuss a cease-fire from Gaza.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/417205.html