No ceasefire without lifting the siege
Haniya, no ceasefire without lifting the siege 14 December, 2008 From Khalid Amayreh in occupied East Jerusalem
In a triumphant speech marking Hamas’s 21st anniversary, Ismael Haniya, the Prime Minister of the Gaza-based Palestinian government, said the Islamic movement and other Palestinian resistance groups wouldn’t extend the present fragile truce with Israel unless the Israeli occupation army lifted its harsh blockade of the Gaza Strip and allowed Gazans free movement from and to the coastal territory.
The six-month-old truce, or “the calm,” is slated to expire on Friday, amid fears that violence and bloodshed on a larger scale would brake out in the absence of a new agreement or understanding to renew the ceasefire. He pointed out that last month alone, the Israeli occupation army killed more than 20 Palestinians in addition to tightening the blockade of the Gaza Strip.