Posted on 12/05/2003 8:35:54 AM PST by yonif
Palestinians debated cease-fire proposals in Cairo on Friday, but Hamas, the main Islamic terror group, reportedly was resisting a comprehensive truce and holding out instead for a limited plan to halt attacks only inside Israel.
A senior Islamic Jihad member - on the other hand - said that his group might agree to a one year cease fire, to begin with.
Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman told participants that he doesn't want to impose his prepared plan, but he is pressed to form some kind of agreement before his scheduled trip to Washington, Sunday.
No truce was likely to take hold without the endorsement of Hamas, which along with the smaller Islamic Jihad has carried out most of the suicide bombings against Israelis during more than three years of bloodshed.
Israel, while hinting it would respond positively to a Palestinian ceasefire, also is unlikely to accept a partial truce that leaves Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip still open to attacks.
An adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stressed Thursday that a ceasefire must be total. Zalman Shoval also said a truce must be followed by the dismantling of Palestinian militant groups, a step Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has refused to consider.
Qurei arrived in Cairo Friday, saying he plans to participate in the discussions, which are being held at a secret location.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom does not see a ceasefire as an end in itself, but it must lead to the dismantling of all terror infrastructures.
Speaking to former US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, now the director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Shalom commended Egypt's role in bringing together all terror factions and trying to bridge between them and Israel.
Shalom also reiterated Israel's willingness to enter into unconditional negotiations with Syria, but first had to see concrete measures against terror on Syria's part.
Representatives of 12 Palestinian factions began talks in Cairo on Thursday on a possible cease-fire with Israel.
Hamas, which publicly belittled the talk of a truce before joining the dialogue in Cairo, appeared to be adamantly against a comprehensive truce.
"The maximum that Hamas could give this time is an initiative to spare civilians the conflict," said one official close to the group, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Apart from this, it is not possible," he added.
However, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are coming under pressure from Egypt, Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction and smaller groups who also are backing Fatah in hopes of gaining some say in future negotiations with Israel.
Egypt urged Palestinians factions meeting here to come up with a truce offer and to give its leaders the authority to negotiate the terms of a cease-fire with Israel. According to Al Jazeera, Egypt wants Palestinian factions to sign a 12-month cease-fire and to establish a unified leadership.
Suleiman: "Our plan is ready"
Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman opened the session Thursday night by strongly urging the Palestinians to agree to a total cease-fire conditioned on Israel's reciprocation, according to Palestinian delegates at the closed-door meeting.
He did not spell out terms of the ceasefire, which would be conditional on Israel reciprocating. "You stop (shooting) ... and we together will decide the conditions and then act," he was quoted as saying by one delegate.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are reported to be under pressure to accept a truce from Egypt, Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction and smaller groups who also are backing Fatah in hopes of gaining some say in future negotiations with Israel.
He also called on the factions to give Palestinian leaders the authority to work directly with the Israelis to hash out the terms of the cease-fire.
To press his case, the Egyptian general pulled out a piece of paper and told the Palestinian representatives: "Our plan is ready, but we don't want to impose one on you. You are free to talk to one another."
He indicated that he expected a reply by Saturday.
After the speech, representatives of a dozen Palestinian factions began meetings among themselves.
The talks are being held under the auspices of the Egyptian government, which is trying to persuade the Palestinians to declare a hudna (cease-fire), similar to the one reached earlier this year.
Mubarek to Qurei: an agreement is imminent
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is putting pressure on the groups to announce a cease-fire over the weekend, summoned Qurei to Cairo after being told that the groups were close to reaching an agreement.
Speaking to reporters in his hometown of Abu Dis, Qurei said he wants a "mutual" cease-fire that would include Israel as a signatory. Upon his return from Cairo, he is expected to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to brief him on the talks and urge him to accept the truce.
Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman, who helped broker the previous cease-fire that collapsed in August, opened Thursday's meeting by strongly urging the Palestinians to take advantage of current political conditions and agree to a total cease-fire conditional on Israel reciprocating. He said that an agreement would strengthen the opposition to Sharon in Israel.
"It is possible to take advantage of these conditions to come up with a cease-fire that the Israeli side will feel compelled to commit to," one delegate quoted Suleiman as saying.
Suleiman is to go to the US next week to brief American officials on the outcome of the talks. PA officials said the representatives of the factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have agreed in principle to halt all terrorist attacks on both sides of the Green Line.
"The agreement is expected to be announced within the next few hours or days," one official said. He added that a draft agreement worked out by the various factions states that all factions would halt attacks inside the Green Line, and would urge Arab and international parties to guarantee that Israel halt its military measures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The proposal
According to the proposed deal, the factions would point out that they have the "right to resist Israeli occupation," but they would also be prepared to halt attacks against soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if certain conditions are met by Israel.
The factions would also state that their acceptance of a cease-fire requires a clear Israeli commitment to stop construction on the security fence and settlements, as well as a withdrawal of IDF forces to pre-September 28, 2000 positions.
PA Chairman Yasser Arafat on Thursday gave his public backing to the Cairo talks. "The most important thing is to try to reach an agreement that is sponsored by the Arab states and the quartet in order to implement the road map [and] stop the daily Israeli escalation against our people," he said in an interview with al-Jazeera.
Arafat dispatched national security adviser Jibril Rajoub to the talks, together with several other Fatah officials.
Ahmed Ghnaim, a member of the Fatah delegation, said the results of the talks should not be "conventional." He said the main aim is to create a unified Palestinian voice, subordinate to the PA.
Hamas and Jihad would prefer to continue terror attacks
Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders reiterated their opposition to any deal that does not include a halt to IDF operations, including targeted killings, incursions, and detentions. They have also refused to use the term hudna in referring to the Cairo talks, preferring instead to describe the discussions as a "national dialogue" designed to create a unified Palestinian position.
No cease-fire is likely to take hold without the endorsement of Hamas. The militant Islamic group and the smaller Islamic Jihad has carried out most of the suicide bombings against Israelis during the more than three-year intefadeh, or uprising.
Hamas, which has publicly belittled the talk of a truce before joining the dialogue in Cairo, appeared to be adamantly against a comprehensive truce.
"The maximum that Hamas could give this time is an initiative to spare civilians the conflict," said one official close to the group, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Apart from this, it is not possible," he added.
Khaled Mashaal, a senior Hamas political leader, said that he would like to see "resistance attacks" continue. He said the previous cease-fire failed due to "Israeli policies, its continued crimes, and its refusal to release prisoners."
Muhammad Nazzal and Hassan Abu Marzouk, two Hamas officials at the talks, seized the opportunity to assail the Geneva Accord, saying it forgoes the right of all refugees to return to their original homes.
"We came to Cairo to speak openly, but we demand the Palestinian factions condemn the Geneva initiative," Nazzal said. "The signing of the Geneva Accord represents a preemptive step to foil the Palestinian national dialogue."
A senior member of the delegation representing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that for the truce talks to be fruitful, his group is demanding the release of its leader, Ahmed Sa'adat, who is currently held at a prison in Jericho. He is believed to be the mastermind behind the assassination of tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi.
Muhammad al-Hindi, an Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, expressed support for any agreement that might spare Palestinian and Israeli civilians. "I think it is preferable to reach a formula to spare civilians from the horrors of war," he said.
The Israeli response
In the clearest statement yet that Israel will respond favorably to a cease-fire offer, an Israeli defense official suggested Israel would scale back its military operations if the Palestinians pledge to halt attacks.
"If the Palestinians agree to a cease-fire in Cairo, it's certainly not out of the question that Israel will agree to restrain its military activity," Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio on Thursday.
Israel has reason to agree to the cease-fire - mainly that when it kept up its own attacks during the last truce arranged by Egypt in June, the Palestinians waited only seven weeks before resuming suicide bombings, with devastating results.
But Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Sharon, stressed that a cease-fire must be total and be followed by the dismantling of militant groups as required by the "road map," which would establish a Palestinian state by 2005.
Under the "road map," Palestinians would stop violence and make efforts to disarm violent cells, while Israel would halt attacks against Palestinians, withdraw forces from Palestinian towns, freeze settlements and take steps to normalize Palestinian life.
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