An Israeli general leading security talks with the Palestinians said today a temporary truce, or "hudna", with Islamic militants would lead to more violence and set back a US-backed "road map" to peace.
"No hope should be put in this 'hudna'," Major-General Amos Gilad told Israel Radio. "As far as Hamas is concerned, the 'hudna' is a ceasefire for the purpose of reorganisation, so that it can carry out even harsher acts of murder."
Militant groups have been negotiating with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on a truce with Israel to end a cycle of violence that has battered the peace plan affirmed at a US-led summit in Jordan on June 4th.
Hamas, whose suicide bombers have killed scores of Israelis in a 32-month-old uprising for statehood, said Israeli attacks on its commanders and other military measures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were delaying its answer on a temporary truce.
Another round of talks between Mr Gilad and Palestinian security minister Mr Mohammed Dahlan on the possibility of a US-brokered Israeli troop pullback in the Gaza Strip and West Bank city of Bethlehem ended inconclusively today.
Palestinian officials said there was no change in their position that for the deal to work, Israel must curtail its actions - especially "assassinations" and raids in the territories. They also seeks the release of thousands of Palestinians detained in Israeli anti-militant sweeps.
But Israeli officials have said the two areas would serve as limited proving grounds for the Palestinian Authority's ability to prevent militants from launching attacks, and withdrawals elsewhere could follow.
At the World Economic Forum in Jordan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell sounded an optimistic note on the talks. "And I know the Palestinian Authority is hard at work trying to bring into place a cessation of violence on the part of (militants)," said Mr Powell, who was in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday in a bid to rescue the road map.