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Secretary General of the Palestinian People's Party, Bassam Al-Salhi on Friday (November 23) thanked China for supporting a truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza but expressed doubts over Israeli commitment to the ceasefire.
The envoy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in China on Thursday (November 22) for a three-day visit, after an Egyptian brokered ceasefire, ended eight days of bloodshed.
The truce brokered by Egypt's new Islamist leaders, working with the United States, headed off an Israeli invasion of Gaza. But trust between Israel and Hamas remains in short supply.
"It depends on the Israelis' behaviour. I think this ceasefire is better than last time's, and still the experience of the Israelis position is all the time they make violations of other kinds of truces. Now what is the Israelis' position is the main factor of this. I hope that the Israelis are committed to this, have their commitment, and Egyptians could give a guarantee to continue this truce, but we do not trust the Israelis' behaviour," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to cease fire just hours after a bomb exploded on a Tel Aviv bus, prompting opposition charges of weakness but winning international credit he may seek to draw on in Israel's standoff with Iran, whose disputed nuclear program he considers an existential threat.
