Resistance Factions Cease Fire in Gaza, Give Israel Week to Withdraw

18/01/2009 | Al Manar TV

Moussa Abu Marzuq, deputy of Hamas politburo Chief, announced a one-week truce to allow Israeli occupation troops to withdraw, in a speech on Syrian state television.

Israeli tanks retreat to the outskirts of Gaza City as the IDF began 

observing a unilateral ceasefire in the strip on Sunday.

"The Israeli enemy has failed in its bid to impose conditions. We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Abu Marzuq said.

"We are ready to accept all efforts, particularly those of the Egyptians, Turks, Syrians and Qataris, to reach an agreement that meets our known demands, namely the lifting once and for all of the blockade and the opening of all the crossing points, including the Rafah crossing" between Gaza and Egypt.

Earlier, senior Hamas official Ayman Taha said "Hamas and the factions announce a ceasefire in Gaza starting immediately and give Israel a week to withdraw," Ayman Taha, a Hamas official in Cairo for talks with Egypt on a truce deal.

Currently, a Hamas delegation has traveled to Cairo and is expected to hold talks with Egyptian intelligence sources on issues of an Egyptian initiative that includes the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces, monitoring along the Philadelphi route and the activation of various crosses in and out of Gaza.

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas-affiliated parliament member, said "Israel failed in the war, did not achieve even one of its objectives and fled from the Strip. The age of quick, decisive wars, such as Israelis like, has disappeared."

"The resistance pushed back the attack and the enemy is forced to deal with continued rocket fire, continued threat from Hamas and no change regarding the issue of (kidnapped soldier Gilad) Shalit," he added.

Likewise, the spokesman for the Palestinian Resistance Committees (PRC) Abu Mujehad said that "the Zionist enemy fled. The rockets didn't stop. The organizations are alive and kicking and keep firing and operating and (captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad) Shalit is still in our hands."

According to Mujehad, the additional victims discovered Sunday morning under the rubble in Gaza only demonstrates Palestinian suffering, not Israeli success. "If Israelis enjoy seeing hundreds of building destroyed and 1,200 civilians killed, then they can say that they won. But if we look at this from a military perspective, any small child understands that they didn't win, they were defeated. Our rocket arsenal exists, smuggling will not stop, the shooting capabilities of the organizations continue unabated," he said.

Mujehad confirmed that only a few dozens fighters had been killed in the war, adding, "We, in contrast to the enemy, don't hide casualties because shahids (martyrs) deserve a special funeral worthy of their holiness… Israelis, on the other hand, has turned hiding casualties into an art."