Renewed calls for ceasefire

The UN secretary-general renews his call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, as Arab states struggle to arrange an emergency Arab League meeting.

An injured Palestinian man looks on amid the damage caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza City on Jan 14 2009.

CAIRO // The UN secretary-general yesterday renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, as Arab states struggled to arrange an emergency meeting of the Arab League in coming days. Almost a week after both Israel and Hamas rejected a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, an end to Israel's invasion of Gaza and Hamas's missile fire into Israel was as elusive as ever.

"I repeat my call for an immediate and durable ceasefire," Ban Ki-moon said at a news conference in Cairo. "I demand an immediate end to violence in Gaza, and then to the Israeli military offensive and a halt to Hamas rockets. It is intolerable that civilians bear the brunt of this conflict." Hamas said late last night that it had reiterated to Egypt its views on a ceasefire agreement. "What we are seeking is ending the aggression, lifting the siege and opening the crossings - that's our vision," Salah al Bardawil, a Hamas official in Gaza, said at a news conference.

"There is no dispute between us and the Egyptian leadership." More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed with another 4,500 wounded, half of them children and women, since the attacks started on Dec 27, according to reports. Thirteen Israelis have died, nine by fire from Israeli troops, and one injured critically, according to the Israeli army. Last night, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah called for an emergency summit meeting of Gulf Arab countries in Riyadh today to discuss Israel's attack on Gaza, Saudi television said. The proposal followed a similar proposal by Qatar on Monday to convene an Arab League summit in Doha.

Mr Ban's visit to Cairo is the first stop on a regional tour that will take him to Jordan, Israel and Ramallah, but not Gaza. He will also visit Lebanon and Syria before attending an economic summit in Kuwait next week. His visit comes just a week after the Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire. Mr Ban said he will continue to demand an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of aid to the Palestinian people during his tour. Mr Ban met with Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, his wife, and the Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa. "I strongly urged President Mubarak to continue his efforts," Mr Ban said. "I highly commend his initiative. I am encouraged that the talks are continuing." He praised Egyptian efforts to achieve a ceasefire as "decisive". Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister, said a Hamas delegation was in Cairo and that he expected some progress "in the next few days". Egypt's intelligence chief has been in constant talks with three Hamas representatives from inside Gaza as well as two from the group's political leadership based in Damascus. Amos Gilad, the head of the Israeli defence ministry's diplomatic-security bureau, was expected in Egypt again today to hear Hamas's final decision on the initiative. A Franco-Egyptian proposal last week called for a ceasefire for a specified period, opening Gaza's border crossings, preventing arms smuggling into the territory and inviting Palestinian factions to reconciliation talks. Israel and Hamas have rejected the proposals. "I hope that the initiative will be implemented as soon as possible. The UN is ready to support any peace process and to deliver humanitarian aid," said Mr Ban, who also met the Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, who had met with Mr Mubarak 48 hours earlier. Despite Egypt's week-long diplomatic offensive and willingness to alter some aspects of the initiative upon Hamas's request, no agreement has been reached. On Tuesday, Palestinian factions Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced their rejection of the initiative. Moussa Abou Marzouk, Hamas's No 2 in Damascus, told Al Jazeera the group is demanding major changes to the initiative that would include a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli troops and a lifting of the siege on Gaza, adding that "the initiative is not accepted as it is". Egypt, which never accepted Hamas's victory in legislative elections in 2006 and is fearful of having "an Islamic princedom at its border", has been critical of the organisation and what it has wrought on ordinary Gazans. The feeling is mutual. Indeed, Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign policy adviser to the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was instrumental in persuading Hamas representatives to go to Cairo for talks last week. According to Ibrahim el Derawi, an Egyptian analyst close to the talks, Mr Davutoglu is highly involved in the negotiations. Hamas representatives in Cairo are not talking to local press, saying they are honouring an agreement with the Egyptian side not to reveal details of the talks. Mr el Derawi said Egypt is hoping to reach an agreement between Hamas and Israel before an emergency Arab League summit is set. The UAE announced yesterday it would take part in the emergency Arab League summit. Egypt and Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday they would not attend the summit that Qatar has been calling for since the outbreak of the fighting because the two "moderate states" feel the summit will be used a platform by the "radical camp" of Syria, Iran, Hamas and Hizbollah to further criticise Egypt's policy towards Gaza, including its closure of the Rafah border crossing. The two regional heavyweights said they would rather attend a consultative summit in Kuwait on Monday and Tuesday on the sidelines of an economic summit there. "In light of all the circumstances, it's not expected that neither the Arab summit in Doha or the economic summit in Kuwait succeed," said Moustafa Kamel el Sayed, a political scientist at Cairo University. "Egypt is betting on that, but it is unlikely the Cairo talks will succeed due to the huge gap between Israel and Hamas." Mr el Sayed said Egypt had come under international pressure to work towards a solution. "It chose the diplomatic path, emphasising that it's the only country that could bring Hamas and Israeli officials to Cairo for [separate] talks, which is a score for Egyptian diplomacy," he said. "But outside, in the Arab world, the majority is still upset with the Egyptian regime." Amr Moussa, the Arab League's secretary general, said yesterday that quorum has not been reached. He said 14 countries have signed up while at least 15 of the 22 member states are required agree for the summit to be held. [e-mail] * With additional reporting by Mahmoud Habboush of The National, Bloomberg and Reuters