An Egyptian official said leading figures of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas arrived in Cairo on Sunday evening and would meet with Egyptian officials today to discuss ways to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and contain its repercussions. "The Egyptian officials will also brief Hamas on Egypt's plan to contain the crisis" the source affirmed, adding that this plan was different than the previous ceasefire. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak welcomed yesterday his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy and a delegation of the European Troika in Sharm el-Sheikh. The talks focused on ways to stop the Israeli military operations against the Gaza Strip. On the diplomatic front, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit received an urgent message from his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki over the current situation in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group staged several demonstrations yesterday in several Egyptian governorates, starting from downtown Cairo. They said that they had been organized in coordination with security forces and that they aimed to criticize Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip. Security forces cordoned off Tahrir Square (the demonstration venue) since the early hours of the morning with many central security forces. The protest was not attended by MB General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef, while only Cairo MB members were allowed to join in. A security official told Al-Masry Al-Youm that an agreement had been struck with MB leaders to allow only Cairo and Giza MB members to join the demonstration, while the members coming from other governorates would be sent to another demonstration at the outskirts of Cairo. Meanwhile, informed sources said that Israel had rejected the proposals put forward by Cairo on Sunday to reach a ceasefire and that these proposals had been submitted to Hamas. The same sources also affirmed that these proposals basically aim to bring the situation back to what it used to be before the invasion in exchange for a halt to Palestinian rocket attacks on the settlements and a temporary ceasefire. Such ceasefire would then become a total one and would be extended to the West Bank later on.
