Jan 6, 2009

CAIRO (AFP) – A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire with Israel, 10 days after the Jewish state's unleashed its massive offensive on the Islamists' Gaza Strip stronghold.

The talks with the Palestinian delegation, headed by Emad al-Alami and Mohammed Nasr from Hamas's Syrian-based political leadership, represent the first such contact since fighting began but hopes of a truce appear dim.

Egypt has a peace deal with Israel and negotiated a previous six-month truce which expired on December 19, heralding the latest violence in which more than 580 Palestinians have been killed.

Cairo has since been walking a tightrope between accusations of complicity with the Israeli offensive and trying to broker an end to the fighting which has also killed nine Israelis, most of them soldiers.

"We will speak with Egyptian leaders about the aggression in Gaza," Nasr told AFP before leaving Damascus.

"Our position is clear: end the aggression, withdraw (Israeli forces) from Gaza, open the crossing points, especially Rafah, with a total lifting of the blockade."

Rafah in Egypt, the only border crossing with the Gaza Strip that bypasses Israel, has remained largely closed since the offensive started, with a trickle of aid going one way and wounded people coming the other.

Israel's bombing of the Palestinian side of the border in a bid to destroy smuggling tunnels has also made it impossible to keep open.

The Hamas delegation was to meet Egyptian intelligence officials, headed by Omar Suleiman, a security official said.

"We asked for a Hamas delegation with capability and authority to be sent to examine how a ceasefire can be achieved," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying in the state-owned Al-Ahram daily.

The paper said the delegation would also examine an Egyptian proposal for Hamas to reconcile with the Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah in June 2007, and in November boycotted Egyptian efforts to reconcile the divided Palestinians.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week said he would not reopen Rafah because he did not want to officialise the rift between Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas.

Under a 2005 deal, the Rafah crossing can only be opened to normal traffic if European Union observers and PA forces are at the border, which is also monitored by Israel.

The destruction of Egypt-Gaza tunnels around Rafah is a key Israeli objective in the war, aimed at preventing Hamas being able to rearm with rockets.

Tunnels are however also a vital conduit for food supplies and basic needs, such as medicines, for many of the 1.5 million people in the territory which has been under tight Israeli blockade for more than 18 months.

Middle East peace Quartet envoy Tony Blair said on Tuesday that cutting off the smuggling tunnels could secure an immediate ceasefire.

Cutting off the supply of arms and money through the tunnels is "the one basis on which you can bring a quick halt to this, otherwise I think we're into a more protracted campaign," Blair told BBC radio.

"The Egyptians, in principle, are prepared to do this, they want to do it, they recognise it's in their own interests as well."

However, Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted Abul Gheit as saying the tunnels existed in order to get aid into Gaza and that arms entered the isolated territory by boat.

"Whoever says that the tunnels are used to smuggle weapons and ammunition is clueless because everything comes to them by sea," Abul Gheit said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that the campaign would continue until Israel completely wiped out Hamas's ability to fire rockets into the Jewish state.

Israel unleashed its "Operation Cast Lead" on Hamas on December 27 with a massive air bombardment of Gaza, and poured in thousands of ground troops a week later.

Since then, at least 580 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 100 of them children, and more than 2,700 wounded, according to Gaza medics.