March of Return to come back on Friday under title ‘The March Continues’

The March of Return demonstrations will begin again on Friday after being canceled for three consecutive weeks due to security concerns, according to Palestinian media.

In a reported ceasefire that ended a recent round of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, a diplomatic source reportedly told the Palestinian Sawa news agency that the Palestinians would “maintain peaceful Marches of Return” and Israel in turn would put an “end to assassinations” and would not respond violently toward the border protestors.PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah said in an interview with Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen news that Israel conveyed a request for a ceasefire and that the terrorist group would only agree to a ceasefire if Israel met three requirements: the cessation of assassinations, stopping firing on the March of Return demonstrations and the lifting of the siege on Gaza according to former agreements made in Cairo.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later denied that any agreement had been made to end assassinations. “I want to clarify again: Israel has not obligated itself to anything,” Netanyahu said. “Our security policy has not changed, not even slightly. We have maintained our full freedom of action and we will harm anyone who tries to harm us.”

Khaled Abu Toameh, Tovah Lazaroff and Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.