Hamas Considering Long-Term Truce with Israel

By Zack Pyzer 

Senior figures in Hamas, the terror organization controlling the Gaza Strip for over seven years, are meeting in Qatar this week.

Despite denials from both Hamas and Israeli sources, reportedly on the Hamas agenda is a proposal for a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported Monday that the cease-fire could be between 3-5 years long.

Speaking to Tazpit News Agency, Benedetta Berti from the Israeli think tank INSS said that both parties, despite their denials, would likely find the deal to be in their best interests.

The truce proposal reportedly includes a clause promising the establishment of a seaport under supervision in Gaza, NRG reported. Berti added that Hamas’s main priority would be re-starting payments to their members in Gaza, and the speeding up of construction in the Strip.

Hamas representative Moussa Abu Marzouk, responsible for negotiating the truce which ended last summer’s 50-day conflict, reportedly travelled to Doha on Saturday.

Israel and Hamas have largely maintained a truce since the end of hostilities in late August 2014.

Islamic Jihad and ISIS-linked groups have in recent weeks tested the peace, firing a number rockets into Israel, bringing retaliatory strikes from the IDF against both groups along with Hamas.

This is in line with a long held Israeli policy to hold Hamas responsible for controlling Gaza.

The calm has been tested in recent weeks, though, as Salafist groups have fired rockets from Gaza into Israel, drawing Israeli airstrikes on Hamas facilities.