EGYPT: Egypt has invited a wide array of Palestinian factions to talks in Cairo, just six days before elections in Israel, in an attempt to broker a ceasefire that would see an end to attacks on Israel, officials confirmed yesterday.
But Palestinian militia leaders said they would not lay down their weapons until Israel "ended the occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The talks, scheduled for January 22nd, are the culmination of weeks of Egyptian mediation. They will be attended by 10 factions, including Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, which have carried out suicide bombings, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The Egyptian proposal includes a call for a halt to attacks on Israeli targets. It also makes several demands of Israel, including an end to the assassination of Palestinian militants and the cessation of military incursions into Palestinian areas.
Mr Arafat has expressed support for the plan, but yesterday Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials in the Gaza Strip vowed to continue attacks against Israel.
"The withdrawal of the occupation is the condition for stopping the attacks," said an Islamic Jihad leader, Mr Abdullah Al-Shami.
Some observers have suggested that Egypt's efforts are also motivated by its desire to douse the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ahead of a possible war on Iraq which Arab leaders fear could destabilise the region.
An aide to the Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon was sceptical. "We would have welcomed a real cessation of all types of terrorism and violence, but this seems like all talk", said Mr Ra'anan Gissin.