Palestinian negotiator: Ceasefire not reached because Palestinians refused to disarm

“Qais Abd Al-Karim ‘Abu Laila’, Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and a member of the Palestinian negotiation team, emphasized that the main obstacle, which has, thus far, prevented a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip from being reached, was the fact that Israel is not interested in lifting the blockade, but rather in perpetuating it… Israel spoke of stopping the manufacture of rockets and the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip, and the response of the Palestinian delegation was that this topic was non-negotiable and not open to discussion.”

Note: This article was published during the 2014 Gaza war as Hamas was firing thousands of rockets at Israel and as Israel was responding with Operation Protective Edge, which aimed at destroying Hamas' terror infrastructure and ability to launch rockets at Israel.