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Alright already, either make peace or make war. Which ever do it and get over with it.

Sharon offers three-day ceasefire with Hamas: Palestinian source

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - A top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered a ceasefire proposal for a halt in its war against Palestinian militants, a senior Palestinian source told AFP.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, initially to last three days, Israel would stop all attempts to assassinate Palestinian militants in exchange for an agreement by the radical Hamas group to halt all attacks on Israel, including the firing of Qassam rockets, the source said.

Following the three-day period, the truce would be renewed on a daily basis while the two sides discuss plans for a comprehensive ceasefire, he said.

The offer, delivered by Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass to Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayad, was discussed late Friday at a meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his security chiefs, he added.

But he would not comment on the reaction of the security chiefs meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The meeting is to be continued on Saturday, Palestinian sources said.

A senior adviser to Arafat earlier said the meeting was called to discuss an apparent US proposal for a ceasefire, amid heavy pressure from Washington for Israel and the Palestinians to return to the US-backed roadmap peace plan.

"It will continue in the morning to follow up on all the issues and to adopt measures and decisions that will serve the higher Palestinian cause," said Nabil Abu Rudeina.

Among those attending were Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan, the head of national security in the West Bank and Gaza, General Abdul Razeq al-Majeda, head of public security in Gaza City, Saeb al-Aajez, and intelligence chief General Amin al-Hindi.

More than 60 people have been killed since a US-Israeli-Palestinian peace summit in Jordan on June 4, most of them in Israeli helicopter strikes targeting Hamas in Gaza and in a Hamas suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus.

Pakistan Court Queries Islamists on Qualifications

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's top court sent notices Friday to several leaders of an Islamic alliance locked in a bitter row with the government, to answer whether their educational qualifications met election criteria.

The Supreme Court sent the notices on a petition by a private lawyer seeking the disqualification of 65 members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party Islamic alliance.

MMA is engaged in a standoff with the government over the powers of military President Pervez Musharraf -- a key ally of the United States in its war on terror.

The MMA wants Musharraf to resign as army chief and seeks a reversal of constitutional changes which undermine parliament.

The lawyer, Aslam Khaki, has argued that the degrees held by MMA members from Islamic seminaries were not equivalent to graduate degrees, the minimum qualification set for those contesting the 2002 national elections.

The Supreme Court said Friday it would hear the petition at a later date and sent notices to all the respondents.

Khaki has also mounted a separate legal challenge in the Supreme Court against a decision to impose sharia, or traditional Islamic law, in a northwestern province controlled by the MMA. The court adjourned the case Thursday for two weeks.

Khaki has called the Islamic bill passed by the assembly of North West Frontier Province unconstitutional.

Critics say the sharia law, passed by the assembly last week, and other Islamization steps already adopted or in the pipeline, are reminiscent of the policies of the hard-line Taliban overthrown in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001.