Israel, Egypt said to be far apart on Gaza truce

By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip appeared bogged down on Friday because of disagreements with Israel over how to secure the border to prevent Hamas from rearming, diplomats said.

Israeli and European diplomats, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Cairo raised objections to proposals for foreign forces to deploy on the Egyptian side of its 14.5-km (9-mile) border with the Gaza Strip.

Diplomats said an international deployment on the Palestinian side of the border was also unlikely because of objections from Hamas, which has yet to take a formal position on Cairo's ceasefire blueprint.

Israeli officials said their Egyptian counterparts were skeptical Hamas would accept it. Hamas, which is seeking an end to Israel's blockade on the territory, had likewise rejected the presence of international forces.

But a delegation of three Hamas leaders left the embattled territory on Friday to join the talks in Cairo, the group said.

Instead of foreign troops, Egypt told Israel and the European Union it was prepared to accept increased international technical assistance to help its own forces combat arms smuggling through tunnels dug across the border.

Israel, in turn, has reservations about letting Egypt sharply expand its security presence at the border with Gaza because that might require reopening their 1979 peace treaty.

Israel has said it will not agree to a ceasefire unless it contains regional and international commitments that will prevent Hamas from smuggling rockets into the Gaza Strip that could strike deeper into the Jewish state.

Israel dismissed Thursday's U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an "immediate and durable" ceasefire as "unworkable."

Hamas has demanded that any truce require Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip and halt cross-border incursions.

"There is no agreement on what to do at the border to tighten security and it's going to take some time," a senior Israeli official said, describing the gaps as "wide."

A senior European diplomat said: "The truce talks are going nowhere at the moment. There is a growing sense that the Egyptian-French plan is not going to work."

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That plan, announced by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after talks on Tuesday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, called for an immediate ceasefire and for subsequent talks on securing Gaza's border and reopening its border crossings.

Following talks in Cairo on Thursday with Israeli defense official Amos Gilad, Israeli and European diplomats said the sides were at odds over whether foreign troops or Egyptian troops should be deployed.