Chairman of State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said Thursday 28/12/2023 the proposal for forming a Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank, as outlined in the Egyptian three-phase ceasefire initiative, is exclusively a Palestinian matter.
In its first official statement on the move, Rashwan said the formation of the Palestinian government has already been discussed among all Palestinian parties.
He added that the proposal entails three successive and linked stages ending with a permanent ceasefire, stressing that the proposal was drafted after considering the perspective of all concerned parties.
The initiative aims to reach an understanding among these parties in a bid to prevent Palestinian bloodshed, stop the aggression against Gaza, and restore peace and stability to the region, added Rashwan.
He noted that a detailed draft of the proposal will be formulated and declared once Egypt receives the responses from the concerned parties.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh welc
omed the Egyptian proposal during a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, stressing Egypt’s keenness on Palestinian unity.
He noted, however, that any regional or international arrangement should pass only through Palestinian legitimacy, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Egyptian officials have recently held separate talks in Cairo with delegations from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad on ceasefire and prisoner-captive swap efforts.
Ismail Haniyeh headed the Hamas delegation, whereas the Jihad delegation was headed by its Secretary-General Ziad Nakhaleh.
Last week, Nakhaleh said any swap deal must be carried out only after the ceasefire and based on the principle of “all for all,” which means releasing all captives held in Gaza in return for all Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Egypt and Qatar helped mediate a week-long ceasefire in November, in which Hamas freed over 100 captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian children and women detainees.
The UN Security Council has failed more than once t
o call for an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn strip.
Since the beginning of its bloody war on Gaza, Israel has killed over 20,000 Palestinians, including women and children, and wounded thousands more.
Source: State Information Service Egypt