Egypt is putting together a package deal in the south of Israel that will include a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, local daily Jerusalem Post reported Sunday night on its website, citing Israeli government officials.
The package deal will also include an Egyptian commitment to redouble anti-smuggling efforts on the border, give Hamas a presence at the Rafah crossing and reinstate Palestinian Authority(PA) control over other crossings from Gaza into Israel, the officials said.
According to the officials, the package deal, which does not include a prisoner exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, is being brokered by Egypt, without any direct contact between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement.
The package deal, which is expected to be a verbal understanding with nothing in writing, will still need to be approved by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Olmert has said over the last two weeks that Israel is not negotiating a deal with Hamas, and that the organization knew that if it stopped firing rockets at Israel, Israel would respond in kind.
Both Fatah and the Americans have been pushing for a long time for Hamas to agree to allow a Fatah presence at the Gaza crossings into Israel.
However, Israel has been reluctant, out of concern that it would not be able to exert control over who or what crossed, while Fatah has been keen on getting something of a foothold back into Gaza.
Source:Xinhua
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