A senior member of the Palestinian Arab negotiating team that reached a ceasefire deal with Israel on August 26 in Cairo said Saturday that restarted talks on larger demands will begin in another two weeks.
Qais Abd al-Karim, a leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terrorist group that is a main faction in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), told the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency that renewed talks are expected to start September 20 or 21.
More specifics regarding what will be discussed are to be agreed upon in Cairo before the talks resume according to al-Kairm, who noted no end date has been set for the continued negotiations that were slated to be held within a month of the ceasefire deal.
Al-Karim did specify that the issue of construction materials being allowed into Gaza will be discussed, as such materials currently are still not being allowed in.
According to details of the ceasefire deal released by Palestinian Authority (PA) sources, Israel agreed to allow construction materials in to rebuild Gaza, despite the usage of such goods to build an extensive network of terror tunnels used lethally against Israel in Operation Protective Edge. During ceasefire negotiations Israel proposed letting in such materials after the ceasefire holds over a period of time.
Some key issues that were demanded by Hamas and are likely to be on the docket for the renewed talks include the construction of a Gaza sea and airport, which Israel has rejected. However, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar has said his group would build the ports even without permission, hinting that construction materials would be used on the projects.
Hamas is also demanding a swap of hundreds of terrorists for the bodies of IDF soldiers Second Lt. Hadar Goldin and First Sgt. Oron Shaul hy''d, who were killed in the operation.
The terrorists being demanded include those arrested in Operation Brother's Keeper, roughly 60 terrorists who were freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal and later re-arrested, 37 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members, all but two of whom are Hamas members, and 26 terrorists promised in the fourth batch of release "gestures" as part of the Israel-PA peace talks that broke down in April.
From the Israeli side, the lone demand has been the disarmament of Gaza - a demand that has been flatly rejected.