Talks to end a month-long war between Israel and Gaza militants are “difficult,” Palestinian delegates said yesterday, as an Israeli official said no progress had been made so far.
As a 72-hour ceasefire held for a second day, Palestinian negotiators began talks with Egyptian intelligence after a meeting on Monday lasting nine hours. The Israeli delegation returned to Cairo yesterday.
Hamas and its allies are seeking an end to an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Photo: EPA
“We are facing difficult negotiations,” Hamas’ Cairo leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said on Twitter.
Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted Khaled al-Batch, a leader of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, as saying the current round of talks was “the most serious, intensive and difficult.”
“The gaps between the sides are big and there is no progress in the negotiations,” an Israeli official said, while a Palestinian official said: “So far we can’t say a breakthrough has been achieved.”
Hamas also wants the opening of a seaport for Gaza, a project Israel says should be dealt with only in any future talks on a permanent peace agreement with Palestine.
In Gaza, many families have returned to areas they were forced to leave by the Israeli army, but some found their homes had been shelled or bombed. Some people pitched tents, while others spent the night in their homes if they could.
“It is not safe yet, but we miss our homes, we miss our neighborhood, so we come to sit with friends and chat about our fate,” Abu Khaled Hassan, 50, said.
Israeli naval forces fired warning shots at a Palestinian fishing boat which broke the naval blockade yesterday, the military said, and Gaza officials said no one was hurt. The incident did not appear to have threatened the truce.
In Geneva, Switzerland, the UN named an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes by both sides during the conflict.
The commission, which is to be headed by William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, was hailed by Hamas and condemned by Israel.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the UN Human Rights Council is biased against Israel.
“The Human Rights Council long ago turned into the ‘terrorist rights council’ and a kangaroo court, whose ‘investigations’ are predetermined,” ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement. “If any more proof were needed, the appointment of the chairman of the panel, whose anti-Israel bias and opinions are known to all, proves beyond any doubt that Israel cannot expect justice from this body, whose report has already been written and all that is left is to decide who will sign off on it.”
Schabas rejected the claims, telling Israel Radio: “As far as I am concerned they’re not written at all. That’s the whole point of an investigation. I am not anti-Israeli. I’ve frequently lectured in Israel at universities. I am a member of the editorial board of the Israel Law Review. I wouldn’t do those things if I was anti-Israel.”
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
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