OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 24 June 2003 — Israel yesterday tried to sabotage truce talks between militias and the Palestinian Authority even as Palestinians reported progress on reaching a cease-fire. Israel warned it may not accept what it considers a tactical cease-fire meant to give Hamas and other hard-line Palestinian groups time to regroup for more violence.
A US-backed peace plan, the road map to Palestinian statehood by 2005, has been hung up over the inability of both sides to end 33 months of fighting, with each saying, in effect, that the other must go first.
An agreement by Palestinian militias to suspend their armed uprising could be a major breakthrough and a way out of the deadlock. However, Israeli officials said a truce was just a ploy by militants to win time to regroup for more shootings and bombings.
The terms of the emerging deal between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the militias were not clear. One Palestinian mediator who has been shuttling between the sides said the truce will be open-ended and apply not only to Israel but also the West Bank and Gaza Strip — a key condition of Israel.
Palestinian officials, including Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, were optimistic, saying they expected a positive response by the militias. A Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, said the announcement would “hopefully come very soon.”
The Egyptian-brokered truce efforts have been halting, with Hamas repeatedly walking away in recent months. On the other hand, the Islamic resistance group is increasingly feeling the squeeze in the post-Iraq war era, with Washington urging Arab states to dry up funding for Hamas, Syria closing the offices of Palestinian groups and Israel threatening to assassinate Hamas leaders. US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week called Hamas an “enemy of peace.”
Palestinian intifada leader Marwan Barghouti has also lent his prestige to the talks, writing cease-fire proposals from his Israeli prison cell and forwarding them to Khaled Meshaal, a Hamas leader based in Damascus, through an envoy, according to a source close to the negotiations.
Barghouti’s final draft was delivered to Meshaal this week, and the Hamas leader has promised to give his response to the Egyptian government quickly, according to the source.
The document says the militias are willing to give Abbas a chance to negotiate an agreement with Israel.
Egyptian diplomatic sources said Meshaal is expected in Cairo today.
Meanwhile, Israeli public radio reported that Israeli and Palestinian security officials met at the Erez crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel to discuss a phased pullout by Israeli troops from some areas.
