[WCUSP] Fw: Israel's leading writers demand talks with Hamas on a ceasefire

[Libby or Mort Frank]

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From: <moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG>
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Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 9:21 PM
Subject: Israel's leading writers demand talks with Hamas on a ceasefire


> Israel's leading writers demand talks with Hamas on a ceasefire
> 
> By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
> 
> The Independent (UK)
> September 26, 2007
> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2998937.ece
> 
> A group of Israel's most influential writers -
> including David Grossman, Amos Oz and A B Yehoshua -
> have called on the government to open talks with Hamas
> on a ceasefire in Gaza.
> 
> Yehoshua, one of Israel's most revered novelists,
> underpinned the call yesterday by pointing out that
> Israel had "many times" negotiated in the past with its
> sworn enemies.
> 
> The 11 writers have signed a petition urging Ehud
> Olmert's government to negotiate to end both the
> militant rocket attacks on Israel and the frequent air
> strikes and military incursions into Gaza by the
> Israeli military. The conflict has repeatedly cost
> Palestinian -including civilian - lives in recent weeks
> as well as bringing misery to the western Negev border
> town of Sderot because of persistent Qassam attacks.
> 
> The Israeli cabinet - which has rejected the call -
> last week declared the Gaza Strip a "hostile territory"
> and decided in principle to start cutting off its fuel
> and power in a move which has provoked serious public
> concern by both the EU and the UN.
> 
> Yesterday in a further response to last week's cabinet
> decision, the Israeli bank Hapoalim announced it was
> severing connections with Palestinian banks in Gaza.
> 
> Yehoshua declared from his home in Haifa that he and
> his colleagues had made the call to end "the very
> disturbing, very terrible situation for the inhabitants
> of Gaza and for Israelis who live along the border".
> 
> He added: "We have many times negotiated with enemies
> who are totally hostile to Israel or didn't recognise
> Israel - Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In 1981 Menachem
> Begin agreed to a ceasefire with the PLO [Palestinian
> Liberation Organisation] even though it was completely
> denying the legitimacy of Israel."
> 
> Yehoshua explained that of the two parts of the
> petition the first had been to encourage Mr Olmert to
> pursue his negotiations on an outline accord with the
> Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, who has
> established an emergency government in the West Bank.
> 
> But he warned that he doubted the Israeli public would
> endorse a peace deal between Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas, or
> sanction withdrawals of troops and settlers from the
> West Bank, "without calming Gaza".
> 
> He said that he believed Hamas should be offered
> ceasefire talks before implementation of "extreme
> measures" against the population of Gaza.
> 
> "I do not know how Hamas will respond." But he said the
> offer of talks - which would be unconditional on both
> sides - "would throw the dice into the hands of Hamas
> and say stop the stupid rockets you are launching into
> Israel".
> 
> Acknowledging that there had so far been no positive
> response from the government, Yehoshua said that one of
> the aims had been the longer term one of helping to
> "prepare the legitimacy" of such talks with Hamas.
> 
> He said the PLO - now headed by Mr Abbas - was these
> days a "dear son" to Israel but added: "I remember 20
> years ago when we were calling for talks with them if
> you even mentioned the words PLO people said they
> wanted to kill you."
> 
> But he said he also hoped that the authors' declaration
> would "enter the consciousness" of Palestinians in Gaza
> so that they would bring parallel pressures on Hamas
> for a ceasefire.
> 
> Mark Regev, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "We
> are an open and democratic society where people can
> hold different opinions. But the opinion of the
> government is that if you start to talk to Hamas and
> give them legitimacy and recognition, you undermine the
> [Palestinian] moderates."
> 
> Taher Nounou, spokesman for the de facto Hamas
> government led by Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, said any
> ceasefire had to be conducted on both sides and that
> Israel had to "lift the siege" on Gaza. Any reaction to
> the intellectuals' proposal should await an official
> response from Israel.
> 
> Before Hamas's bloody takeover of Gaza in June, Hamas
> had insisted that any ceasefire had to operate in the
> West Bank, but Yehoshua said the West Bank was now an
> issue for the emergency Palestinian government - with
> whom there was a ceasefire.
> 
> * Israel's Infrastructure Minister, Benjamin Ben
> Eliezer, said the jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti
> should be released in a prisoner exchange involving the
> Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped in
> Gaza 14 months ago.
> 
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