Palestinian militants 'willing to agree ceasefire deal'
An armed group linked to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah party today announced it would be willing to accept a ceasefire if Israel also agrees to stop its attacks.
Abu Mohammed – the nom-de-guerre used by the masked spokesman of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – said the armed group would accept a truce ”if it is mutual and if Israel also commits to it”.
Abbas has been in Gaza since Tuesday holding talks with militant groups - including Hamas and Islamic Jihad – to persuade them to halt attacks on Israel. Other militant groups said that talks were going well and would continue in the coming days.
Egypt is expected to host Palestinian officials and militant leaders in the coming days in Cairo to finalise an agreement, a top Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity. The meeting is to be convened after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which ends tomorrow.
Al Aqsa’s announcement came a day after 3,000 Palestinian policemen were deployed in the northern Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire on Israeli communities.
A top Israeli security official praised the Palestinian effort to rein in militants. Compared to lacklustre performance in the past, “now it seems they (Palestinian security forces) are taking positive action,” said Brig Gen Giora Eiland, head of Israel’s National Security Council.
Eiland told Israel Radio that the situation remains fragile, and that in the long run, Abbas will have to dismantle armed groups and raid weapons workshops.
Abbas has said he wants to avoid force, and is instead trying to reach agreement with the militants.
At Abu Mohammed’s news conference, another spokesman, Abu Yusef, said a group of Gaza gunmen – who made a similar announcement earlier today – were not authorised to speak for the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades has splintered during four years of violence and has no clear central leadership.
Abu Mohammed said Israel must agree, under the terms of a ceasefire, to release Palestinians prisoners from its jails. “We think that all the factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad believe that this ceasefire must be mutual,” he said.
The armed groups have said they want Israel to promise that it is halting military operations, including arrest raids and targeted killings of wanted Palestinians. Israel has refused to give such a guarantee in the past, and it remains unclear if it will do so now.
The Bush administration said on Friday it is taking advantage of a lull in violence to send the State Department’s ranking Mideast official to the region to assess chances of peacemaking.
The announcement of next week’s trip by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns was coupled with a positive US response to the Palestinian police deployment. “We have always stressed how important it is for the Palestinians to organise themselves to end the violence, and we welcome steps that are being taken in that direction,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Militants have not fired rockets since Wednesday, and Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said the group was suspending attacks.
In his meetings with the militants, Abbas is also trying to forge agreement on a joint political platform that would give him a stronger mandate in future negotiations with Israel. The document being considered calls for establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, al-Masri said.
Hamas is pledged to Israel’s destruction and has carried out many suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis. But in the past it has indicated a willingness to consider a long-term truce.
