Islamic militant group agree three-month cease-fire
Islamic militants agreed to halt attacks on Israelis for three months, Palestinian negotiators said, but the tenuous deal was immediately undercut by an Israeli airstrike and Hamas threats of revenge.
Ending 33 months of violence is a necessary prelude to the US-backed “road map” peace plan aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by 2005.
Despite the truce accord, which some Hamas officials denied, there was no sign of a let-up in the bloodletting. Four Palestinians were killed in Gaza yesterday, including two in a helicopter attack that Israel said was aimed at a squad preparing to launch rockets.
Israeli officials said yesterday that a truce was an internal Palestinian issue and they would judge the Palestinian Authority solely on results. Officials have been highly sceptical of the truce idea, fearing it is a ploy to enable militants to regroup for more attacks.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out force to disarm the militants, fearing it could lead to a civil war.
The emerging deal was shrouded in some confusion, with Hamas leaders in the Palestinian areas strenuously denying it has been finalised. And its fate was further thrown into question by the Israeli airstrike, which killed two bystanders in the Gaza Strip.
US President George W. Bush reacted coolly to reports of a cease-fire signed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat’s Fatah. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said at a Washington news conference, echoing Israel in insisting that the real test is whether Palestinian security forces will disarm militant groups.
The deal was partly negotiated by Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader jailed in Israel and associated with Fatah’s military wing. With Israel’s knowledge, Barghouti forwarded documents to Khaled Mashal of Hamas and Ramadan Shalah of Islamic Jihad in Damascus. Egyptian officials and Abbas have also been pressing the militants.
The military wings of all three groups have carried out scores of bombing and shooting attacks against Israelis, killing hundreds of people on buses, in cafes and in public places. Hamas has been the deadliest and has set the tone. This week, as the uprising passed the 1,000-day mark, the death toll stood at more than 2,400 on the Palestinian side and more than 800 on the Israeli side.
Yesterday afternoon, Fatah official Kadoura Fares told The Associated Press that after weeks of intensive negotiation, “the Palestinian dialogue has resulted in a cease-fire agreement for a period of three months”.
Another Palestinian source said Mashal, Shalah and Barghouti had signed a document outlining the truce terms.
In it, the militant groups agree to a moratorium on attacks for three months, the source said, in exchange, they demand Israel end targeted killings of militants and military incursions, and call for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel – but do not set any deadline or timeframe for this.
The cease-fire applies to settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza as well as to Israel, a key Israeli demand, the source said.
“We in the Fatah movement demand that the Israeli government respond to this initiative with a comprehensive halting of aggression against the Palestinian people,” Fares said. “We consider this as a step to ending occupation and we salute the spirit of responsibility in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”
Fares was expected to present the document to Arafat, the Palestinian leader, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said he had received no official word yet from the militants.
Israel, in any case, played down the importance of a truce agreement.
“A cease-fire is an internal Palestinian issue,” said Foreign Ministry Deputy Director Gideon Meir.
He said the Palestinian Authority must destroy the militant groups, not make agreements with them.
As if to underscore the point, shortly after the reports of a cease-fire Israel sent helicopters to strike a squad of Hamas militants it said were preparing for a rocket attack.
Palestinian officials said a man and a woman, both bystanders, were killed, and 17 people were wounded, including the target of the raid, Mohammed Siam, who lost a leg. Earlier in the day, two Hamas militants died after a firefight in Gaza that began when the Palestinians fired on an Israeli military vehicle.
Hamas’s military wing, Izzedine al-Qassem, issued a statement saying the helicopter attack was “the final proof that the criminal occupation does not want to achieve calm. After this aggression against our people and against our nation we cannot allow our hands to be tied. God willing, we will retaliate.”
Despite the threats and uncertainty, Hamas is under enormous pressure from all sides, including the Arab world, the US and Europe. There are efforts to dry up its funding, and Israel has made clear it will target its leaders in military strikes if attacks go on.
Top Hamas leaders in Gaza confirmed a truce was being considered but spokesman Mahmoud Zahar insisted that reports it was finalised were “lies, lies, lies.” And Abdel Aziz Rantisi of Hamas said that “in the coming days we will have an answer”.
Sources close to the negotiations said the truce deal was still on despite the new violence and denials and that a formal announcement was expected in the next few days.
