Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was confident Sunday that the armed factions would soon call a formal cease-fire as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon acknowledged a respite in rocket attacks from Gaza. While militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad expressed a willingness to halt attacks if Israel made a reciprocal move, sources close to their talks with Abbas over the last five days said a "cooling down" period was already in place.
"The Palestinian national dialogue has made very significant progress and we will reach an agreement concerning this cease-fire very soon," Abbas told Palestinian state television.
But the newly elected Palestinian Authority president also urged Israel to show flexibility by calling a halt to its military operations and freeing Palestinian prisoners.
"There are also responsibilities on the Israeli side," he said. "They should put an end to attacks against our people and cities and villages, stop going after our wanted people, return people who have been deported to their home towns and give priority to the prisoner issue."
Abbas's comments echoed spokesmen for both Hamas and Jihad who said that the ball was now in Israel's court.
"Our position is that the Israeli occupation should first commit itself to a cease-fire. After that we have no objections about dealing with this subject positively," said Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri.
Israel had to give "a clear commitment to stop their aggressions against our people", Abu Zuhri said, conditioning any cease-fire on the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Khaled al-Batsh, one of Jihad's leaders in the Gaza Strip, also said that any cease-fire agreement was conditional on "the release of the prisoners, and an end to the assassinations and incursions".
Sharon said Israel would not hesitate to do "all that is necessary" and implement plans for a large-scale invasion of Gaza if the attacks resumed, but he also acknowledged that a period of calm was now at hand.
"After a long period of Palestinian terror and intensive action on the part of our security forces against terrorism, there is now quiet," Sharon said at the start of a cabinet meeting specially convened in Sderot which has been a frequent target of attacks. "We do not know whether a real change has occurred in the situation. We hope so. We are following what is happening."
His Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had earlier expressed belief that Hamas and its smaller rival Islamic Jihad had agreed to suspend their operations.
"An agreement on a cease-fire was completed between Abu Mazen (Abbas) and terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Mofaz said on military radio.
Comments
Comments are closed.