Crowds in Gaza are taking to the streets, celebrating a cease fire that appears to be holding between Israel and Hamas after eight days of rockets and airstrikes. Talks are set to begin today on easing economic restrictions on Gaza as part of the agreement. Mark Regev joins us from the CNN Bureau in Jerusalem with the latest. Regev is Spokesperson for the Israeli Government and for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Regev remains a bit skeptical of a "terrorist group like Hamas" to keep its end of the bargain. “But these arrangements were negotiated with Egypt and with the sponsorship and support of the United States,” Regev says. “And we’re giving them a chance. We will keep our commitments under these arrangements. Hamas has promised the Egyptians that they will hold their fire. And we’re hopeful that this will last.”
"Of course we want a 2-state solution. Of course we want peace," Regev adds. "We understand that peace is the only real solution. And we've called upon the Palestinian leadership to start peace talks immediately without any preconditions...but we must remember that Hamas, unfortunately, is the enemy of peace. Hamas doesn't want to negotiate."
"At the moment, Hamas is stuck in a hard-line, anti-peace sort of position, which makes them impossible to involve in any sort of peace process."
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