Damascus - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received
new proposals from the leaders of the Palestinian militant group
Hamas to de-escalate the situation in the Gaza Strip, a newspaper
said Friday.
Lavrov told Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal during a meeting
in Damascus Thursday that the group should stop its rocket attacks on
Israel, the Arab newspaper al-Hayat quoted Palestinian sources as
saying.
Mashaal asked for a comprehensive de-escalation that Israel and
Hamas would start at the same time, involving an end to rocket
attacks and to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, the
sources said.
Lavrov accepted the proposal, according to the sources, as 'he
believes any other option will not work.'
Hamas also wants to include the opening of the Rafah crossing on
the Egypt-Gaza border in the de-escalation proposals.
Hamas set conditions as a basis for any agreement on the opening
of the border. The group rejects all forms of Israeli presence on the
border, including electronic monitoring.
European border monitors should stay in Egypt's border towns not
Israel, Hamas insists.
The group rejects any presence of representatives of the
'illegitimate' government of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
but accepts representatives of forces loyal to the 'legitimate'
authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
The group wants to have checkpoints manned by forces loyal to its
Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on the Gaza-Rafah border and a share in
revenues generated from custom duties levied on cross border trade.
Lavrov is on a Middle East tour to promote the idea of a peace
conference that Moscow wants to host in May.
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