Outside of Washington and Israel, there’s a growing insistence that Palestinians must be able to govern themselves. In Cairo, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said Dec. 28 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, reported Al Ahram. In the government’s first official statement on its ceasefire proposal, 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.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh reportedly welcomed 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.
