A Hamas delegation and a senior Turkish
foreign policy advisor returned to Cairo from Damascus Monday, airport sources
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Ahmet Davotoglu, chief foreign policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, was in Damascus for talks with Hamas in Damascus and with the
Syrian authorities. He returned to Cairo Monday evening by private plane,
airport sources said.
The Hamas delegation returned aboard an Egyptian plane following consultations
with leaders of the group living in exile in Damascus on the Egyptian ceasefire
initiative.
Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki denied that Turkey was party to the talks between Egypt and Hamas after Davotoglu arrived at the head of a
Turkish delegation on Sunday.
"Contrary to media reports, Egypt and Hamas are the only parties
negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza," Hossam Zaki told Egypt's official MENA news agency on Sunday.
The Egyptian proposal suggests easing the blockade on Gaza while tightening
border security to curtail smuggling of weapons and other contraband from Egypt to Gaza.
...