Hamas leader Zahar: Final word on Israel truce proposal soon

[Idealism]

Top Hamas official Mahmud Zahar crossed into Egypt on Saturday for talks on consolidating a ceasefire with Israel in the battered coastal enclave, witnesses and a Hamas source said.

It was the first time Zahar had been seen in public since Israel's 22-day war against Gaza's Islamist rulers which ended with both sides calling separate ceasefires on January 18.

He is among a delegation of seven Hamas officials who crossed the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on their way to Cairo for talks with intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. The Hamas delegation crossed a day after Israeli warplanes struck four smuggling tunnels and a weapons depot in the area of the Gaza-Egypt border, the Israeli military said. The airstrikes came in response to two rockets fired from Gaza on southern Israel.

Zahar -- believed to be the overall Hamas leader in the Palestinian territories -- told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television station that he would meet with Egyptian negotiators and members of Hamas's Syrian-based politburo later in the day.

Edit for link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062239.html