Palestinian dissent remains on cease-fire

CAIRO, Egypt -- Palestinian factions disagreed sharply in talks Saturday on a cease-fire offer to Israel -- with one delegate briefly storming out -- but participants said an agreement was still possible.

After initially rejecting any truce, the hardline militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups softened their position, saying they would consider halting attacks on Israelis if Israel agreed to cease military actions.

"We are ready, however, to spare civilians on both sides in this conflict if the Zionist entity is committed to sparing Palestinian civilians," said Islamic Jihad spokesman Nafez Azzam.

The talks, organized by Egypt, include about a dozen Palestinian factions. The past three years of Palestinian uprising has led to hundreds of deaths on both sides, in suicide bombings aimed at Israelis and harsh reprisals by the Israeli military to put down the revolt.

Egyptian intelligence chief Brig. Omar Suleiman, who is overseeing the Cairo talks, is to travel to Washington next week with a cease-fire proposal in hand to seek U.S. backing. Egypt sees a truce as a way to revive the "road map," the latest Mideast peace plan being pushed by the United Sates and the international community.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, expected in Cairo later Saturday, also sees a cease-fire as an opportunity to get back to the "road map," which calls for both sides to pull back from violence and negotiate the founding of a Palestinian state by 2005.

After two days of tense discussions, Palestinian factions remained locked in debate with the two heavyweights -- Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction and the militant Hamas -- still on opposing sides.

In a late Friday night session, a dispute broke out when Fatah insisted that a comprehensive cease-fire offer must be completed, prompting protest from militant groups. As the argument intensified, Zakariya al-Agha, head of the Fatah delegation, stormed out but returned in less than a half-hour.

Fatah wants all factions to commit to a mutual, comprehensive cease-fire agreement. This would entail halting all attacks against Israelis, including settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said Fatah delegate Ahmed Ghneim.

Israel in turn would have to stop building a controversial security barrier that, in part, cuts deep into the West Bank; withdraw from Palestinian towns and cities reoccupied since fighting erupted in 2000; and halt all aggression -- including targeted killings of militants and military incursions into Palestinians areas.

"We are talking about a total and mutual truce," said Ghneim, insisting that such an agreement must be a Palestinian initiative. "But it is tied to Israel's implementation of its obligations and not just a verbal acceptance."

Fatah hopes a Palestinian-initiated cease-fire would result in U.S. and international pressure on Israel to reciprocate. But Hamas, although considering the option of refraining from attacks against civilians, remains skeptical about a comprehensive truce.

In an interview published Saturday in the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Hamas founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin gave conflicting messages.

"Every day houses are destroyed. Violence does not come just from us. Before this resistance ends, the occupation must be ended," said Yassin.

But when asked if he supported a new cease-fire, Yassin responded more moderately. "The last cease-fire was not respected by the enemy. We will see whether the Israelis now pull out and pay what they owe us," he said.

A cease-fire mediated by the Egyptians in June collapsed after seven weeks, with Israel attacking Palestinians and Palestinians resuming suicide bombings.

Israel has stressed that a truce must be total and be followed by the dismantling of Palestinian militant groups, a step Qureia has refused to consider given that the militants have a strong constituency among Palestinians.

Qureia has said trying to destroy the militant groups could lead to a Palestinian civil war.

Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian mediator, has urged the factions meeting here to adopt a total cease-fire and give full authority to Qureia to work out the details of a truce with Israel.

Suleiman has told delegates that the time is ripe to get the United States more deeply involved in the negotiations.