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Abu Marzouk: The Cairo ceasefire talks led to nothing new

Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, said that the Cairo ceasefire talks did not lead to anything new, noting that it is not possible to accept truce without opening the crossings and lifting the siege.

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Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, said that the Cairo ceasefire talks did not lead to anything new, noting that it is not possible to accept truce without opening the crossings and lifting the siege.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera website, Dr. Abu Marzouk underlined his Movement"s rejection to include the file of the prisoner swap deal in the current truce issue, adding that the Israeli prisoner would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Regarding the Movement"s acceptance of a new control mechanism for the Rafah border crossing involving the PA in cooperation with Egypt, the Hamas leader said that the PA in Ramallah rebuffed such a proposal which was agreed upon with the Egyptian side.

With regard to his reading of the goals of the last Israeli aggression on Gaza, Abu Marzouk underscored that Israel tried through its war to achieve internal objectives such as to restore the confidence of its troops and other aims including weakening Hamas and bringing back the PA to Gaza.

He added that after Israel failed to achieve these goals, it rushed to seek help from the US in order to achieve what it failed in militarily and this failure also led Europe to scramble for the implementation of what was stated in the US security memorandum of understanding regarding the prevention of arms smuggling.

The Hamas leader opined that the new US administration would focus during the next stage on reducing the direct intervention in the Palestinian issue and would depend on the allies to handle this issue.

As for the call for establishing a new authority for the Palestinian people, Abu Marzouk explained that the decision-making process in the PLO is hijacked by a trend which deals with the Palestinian cause through American visions, so the formation of a new authority has become an urgent national necessity.

Regarding the inter-Palestinian dispute, he said that the difference is not with Fatah as an organization, but with some Fatah leaders who distorted the struggle history of this Palestinian faction.