Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to head to Turkey on Friday to push a ceasefire in Gaza after Egyptian-mediated negotiations stalled and Israel launched a ground operation to counter Hamas rocket fire on Israeli cities.
Cairo has been the hub of intense negotiations to end the 11-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, after the Gaza-based group rejected an initial Egyptian truce proposal backed by the Arab League and agreed to by Israel.
Egypt, under recently elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has moved to isolate Hamas, accusing it of backing insurgents on its own territory.
A handout picture released by the Egyptian presidency on July 17, 2014, shows Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (right) meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo. (photo credit: AFP/HO/Egyptian presidency)
It has worked instead to bolster the role of Abbas — its ally based in the West Bank and rival to Hamas — in reaching a deal to end the conflict, which has cost more than 260 Palestinian lives since it broke out on July 8.
A senior official with Abbas said the talks, which extended into Thursday night, had stalled over Hamas’s insistence on the easing of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Strip, the opening of the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt and guarantees from Israel before it halts their cross-border rocket fire.
Amid the diplomatic flurry in Cairo, Abbas was due to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius before heading to Turkey, which has ties with both Hamas and Israel, said the official, Azzam al-Ahmed.
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Friday, July 18, 2014
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
