Hamas' prime minister Wednesday called for a period of calm with Israel, laying out conditions that would imply limited international acceptance of Hamas rule in Gaza, and allow US-brokered Mideast peace talks to move forward. But Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak insisted that there was no truce with Hamas and warned Israel would not refrain from taking action if rocket attacks continued from Gaza. “We are continuing our fight against the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and we will bring it to an end, but that will not be done in a day,” he told Israeli public radio. “There is no truce.” “We are expecting other operations in the near future and the pursuit of our fight against Gaza risks provoking an escalation on other fronts,” Barak said during a visit to troops stationed near the Gaza border. The ceasefire offer by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh came amid growing signs that Israel and Hamas are moving closer toward an Egyptian-brokered deal to end weeks of cross-border fighting that has killed dozens of people, nearly all of them Palestinians. At the center of the arrangement would be the deployment of officers loyal to Hamas' political rival, moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, at Gaza's crossings. Hamas officials said they accept such a deployment in principle, even though it means giving up some control, and that they have given Egypt names of pro-Abbas officers who would be acceptable to Hamas. In a speech at Gaza City's Islamic University, Haniyeh demanded an end to Israeli military activity in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, a lifting of Israeli economic sanctions and the opening of Gaza's borders, which have been sealed since Hamas seized control of the area last June. “We are talking about a mutual comprehensive calm, which means that the enemy must fulfill its obligations,” Haniyeh said.. “The Israelis must stop the aggression ... including assassinations and invasions, end the sanctions and open the borders.” Haniyeh had been in hiding for several weeks during heavy fighting with Israel, and only has felt safe enough to appear in public in recent days. With US backing, Egypt has been trying to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas following an especially bloody round of fighting that killed five Israelis and more than 120 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians. “There are efforts by the Egyptian brothers who are working on this issue. We as Palestinians are waiting for the Israeli answers,” Haniyeh said. “The ball is in Israel's court.” Meanwhile, Israel said Wednesday it would impose sanctions on the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera. Majalli Whbee, Israel's deputy foreign minister, said the government would deny visas to the Qatar-based station's employees and Israeli officials would no longer agree to be interviewed by the network. __
