Palestinian Militias Announce Three-Month Truce
Sunday, June 29, 2003
JERUSALEM — The militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups announced Sunday that they are suspending attacks against Israel for three months, leaders of the two groups said.
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The timing of the announcement came as a surprise, after Palestinian officials said the declaration would be delayed at least until Monday because of political infighting in Yasser Arafat's Fatah (search) movement, a partner in the three-way deal.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad did not wait, however, for Fatah to resolve its internal agreements. In response to the announcement by the militants, Fatah officials said they were still not ready to join the declaration.
Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas (search) leader, read the truce announcement in a phone call to The Associated Press. "The two movements (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) decided to suspend military operations against the Zionist enemy for three months, starting today," Rantisi said.
Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi also confirmed that the truce took effect Sunday.
"This is a joint declaration between Islamic Jihad and Hamas and I think our brothers in Fatah are going to declare their position soon," al-Hindi told AP.
Rantisi reiterated a list of demands — not preconditions — for the suspension of attacks. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have said they want Israel to halt all military strikes, including targeted killings of wanted militants. The groups also seek a release of Palestinian prisoners.
"We consider ourselves free from this initiative if the Israeli enemy does not implement all the conditions," said Rantisi, who was the target of a recent Israeli attack.
Rice Meets With Abbas, Sharon
Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (search) met with leaders of the region to promote a U.S.-backed plan for peace.
Rice met Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (search), a day after meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas has accepted an invitation to the White House, according to a senior Palestinian official, though U.S. officials have not confirmed the invitation.
If Abbas does meet with President Bush, he would be the first Palestinian leader in three years to meet with a U.S. president. Bush has boycotted Arafat, saying he is tainted by terror, while Sharon has met repeatedly with the president.
Israel Army Radio said Rice and Sharon discussed details of Israel's troop pullback in Gaza and an easing of restrictions, including a release of Palestinian prisoners and the possible rebuilding of the Palestinians' international airport in southern Gaza. Israeli troops destroyed the runway 2001.
The wrangling over the militias' announcement came as Israeli and Palestinian officials were working out details of an expected Israeli troop pullback and security handover in Gaza as part of implementing the "road map" peace plan.
Fatah Seeks to Resolve Infighting
The Fatah Central Committee met Sunday to defuse the last-minute crisis over the truce, which has armed Palestinian factions halting attacks on Israelis for three months.
Leading members of Fatah — which is led by Arafat and Abbas — were upset that they had been kept out of the negotiations. The deal with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main political rivals of Fatah, was largely negotiated by Marwan Barghouti, an uprising leader from Fatah jailed by Israel.
"It is impossible to recognize an agreement prepared by one person who is in prison," said Sakher Habash, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, referring to Barghouti.
Fatah members angered by the back-channel talks insisted Sunday that the introduction to the document be changed and that the U.S.-backed peace plan be mentioned, according to officials close to the dispute. Such an addition would be unacceptable to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have rejected the "road map" to Mideast peace and Palestinian statehood by 2005.
Sunday's renewed debate in the central committee came even though the panel had endorsed the truce declaration in principle Saturday, said Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia, a member of the committee.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo has suggested the crisis could be defused, saying he expected the truce announcement to be made Monday. He said declarations would be issued simultaneously from Cairo, the West Bank town of Ramallah and from Gaza City.
The Palestinians, in their meeting with Rice, told her of the importance of getting Israel to halt its attacks against militants and release Palestinian prisoners, including Barghouti. "We told her that this would create a positive atmosphere to implement the road map," Abed Rabbo said.
Over the weekend, Islamic Jihad said it would accept a three-month suspension of attacks, while Hamas would only confirm agreement was reached but stopped short of a declaration. Talks were held over the weekend with 10 smaller factions on joining the declaration.
In a small setback, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical PLO faction, announced Saturday that it would not accept a truce, but there were signs Sunday that the gorup's leader had backed away from this stance.
Arafat dispatched Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat to try to persuade PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat, who is jailed under international supervision in the West Bank town of Jericho for his role in the 2001 killing of an Israeli Cabinet minister, to change his mind.
Erekat said Saadat informed him Sunday that while the PFLP would not join the declaration, it would not violate the truce either.
A Fatah-affiliated militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, also said in a leaflet that it rejected the truce. However, the militia consists of several armed gangs, and it was not clear whether the statement reflected a majority view in the militia. It is widely believed that the militia could be brought in line with some pressure from Arafat and Barghouti.
The road map won a major boost over the weekend after Israelis and Palestinians reached agreement in principle on the terms of an Israeli troop pullback in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli and Palestinian security officials met Sunday in Gaza to work out the details of the pullback, which could start as early as Monday.
The security deal, reached in talks between Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan and Israel's Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad, came with a pledge by Israel to halt targeted killings of wanted Palestinians — one of the militants' key demands for continuing with a truce.
Palestinians in turn agreed to act against what Israel calls "ticking bombs" — assailants on their way to attack Israelis. But Israel has reserved the right to go after assailants themselves if Palestinians failed to do so.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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