GAZA, Palestine, Dec 11 (NNN-WAFA) – The Islamic Hamas movement, denied on Tuesday, some media reports alleging that it is holding secret talks with Israel, on reaching a long-term truce in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which has been ruling the coastal Palestinian enclave since 2007, said that, “the movement denies what is being circulated in some media outlets, about a long-term truce with the Israeli occupation.”
It said that the reports are “an extension of the incitement and distortion campaigns against the movement, against its positions, and against its resistance programme.”
Israel impose a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip, right after Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.
Israel also waged three military offensives on Gaza, the longest was during the summer of 2014, which lasted for 50 days, and left large-scale deaths and destruction.
Last year, Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar, mediated understandings between the two sides, in a bid to bring a relaxation of the blockade and prevent a long confrontation between Gaza militants and Israel.
Israeli newspapers reported that, there is “an Israeli grand plan,” which is being prepared for the establishment of industrial zones, along the fence separating Gaza and Israel.
The papers published an article saying, it has details of the “full Israeli plan,” which includes working on a number of projects along the Gaza Strip’s border, and that the projects will be established on Israeli territory.
The Gaza Strip witnessed relative calm recently, after a wave of violent clashes last month, between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israel.
Akram Atallah, a Gaza-based political analyst, said that, “despite the official denials on starting long-term truce talks in Gaza,” the Israeli plan of separating Gaza from the West Bank is gradually moving forward.
Abdul Majid Sweilem, a Ramallah-based political analyst, said, he rules out that a long-term deal can be reached in the Gaza Strip “because there are still obstacles facing this deal.”
Sweilem warned that, such a deal will “effectively separate the Gaza Strip from the entire occupied Palestinian territories.”– NNN-WAFA
