By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : A majority of Israeli security cabinet ministers on Wednesday voiced their objection to the Egypt-brokered ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant groups, Israeli media reported.
The truce agreement equals legitimizing Hamas, the Gaza Stripruling movement which Israel regards as a terrorist organization, and would only allow Hamas to regroup, rearm and recruit more operatives before it continues its attacks on Israel, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth cited the ministers as arguing during a security cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refrained from making any definitive decision during the meeting, saying he would rather wait for the defense establishment to study the offer first.
While Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was visiting the Golan Heights, did not attend the meeting, said the report.
“We have to reach a ceasefire from a state of deterrence, while making sure we can increase the chances to free Gilad Shalit, “Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter was quoted as saying. He said 900 Qassam rockets had been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip this year as opposed to only 1,100 in total in 2007.Dichter also slapped Egypt for not effectively stopping weapons smuggling into the coastal strip, claiming that “as long as the Egyptians aren’t fulfilling their obligation to prevent weapons smuggling, there’s no justification to take part in their talks,” according to another local daily Ha’aretz.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported that all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, agreed to accept the Egyptian ceasefire proposal after two days of discussions in Cairo.
Following the group’s agreement, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is expected to visit Israel soon. Egyptian sources told Ha’aretz that the agreement will be presented to Israel in hopes of securing its cooperation as well.