Palestinian Militants Back Truce

Palestinian militant groups agreed Thursday to extend an informal truce for the rest of the year and refrain from attacking Israel, though they placed conditions on the pledge and did not rule out a resumption of violence at some point.

The agreement, which included Hamas and Islamic Jihad, appeared to fall short of the formal cease-fire commitment sought by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Nonetheless, the outcome was seen as enhancing his political prestige at a delicate time in dealings with Israel.

All sides appeared eager to put the best possible face on the outcome of the three-day talks, which were held at a desert hotel outside Cairo under the auspices of the Egyptian government.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was unusually upbeat, describing the results as a “positive first step.” But he and other Israeli officials stressed that the militant organizations must ultimately be disarmed.

“The prime minister emphasized that this is only an interim step, and in order for there to be progress in peace efforts, terrorist organizations cannot continue to exist as armed groups, and certainly not as terror organizations,” read a statement released by Sharon’s office.

In the past, Israel has been dismissive of efforts by Palestinian officials to strike an accord with the militant groups. Sharon’s comments followed a telephone conversation with President Hosni Mubarak and seemed to be a nod to the Egyptian leader’s role as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

A senior Israeli official who requested anonymity said there would be little point in Sharon publicly disparaging Abbas, even if Israel placed no great stock in the militant groups’ promises.

Abbas’ stature depends on his ability to convince the Palestinians that he has the power to win concessions from Israel that will improve their daily lives. More than four years of conflict with the Jewish state has left much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip battered and impoverished.

At the conclusion of the talks, which opened Tuesday, about a dozen militant groups said in a statement that under certain circumstances, they would adhere to an informal truce for the rest of the year.

“The attendees agreed to an agenda for 2005 based on a commitment to maintain the current atmosphere of calm, in exchange for an Israeli commitment to stop all forms of aggression against our land and the Palestinian people ... and the release of all prisoners and detainees,” the communique said.

Israel has reason to be skeptical of the groups’ intentions. After previous indications by the militant organizations that they had reached a consensus in favor of calm, Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on Feb. 25 that killed five Israelis.

However, there have been visible attempts by Israel and the militant groups to move away from the state of all-out confrontation that existed during the reign of the late Yasser Arafat, whom Israel considered complicit in militant activity.

Soon after Abbas took office on Jan. 15, Israel stopped its practice of “targeted killings” of militant leaders, which had ravaged the top echelon of Hamas, and sharply scaled back military raids in the West Bank and Gaza.

Sources within Hamas say there are standing orders to hold off on attacks while the group works to establish itself as a political movement. Hamas fielded candidates in municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza and intends to run in parliamentary elections this summer.

Israel has promised Abbas it will pull its military back from five West Bank cities in the coming weeks. The first of those, Jericho, was handed over to Palestinian security control Wednesday, though the move was largely symbolic because there had been no Israeli forces inside the city.

Israel has freed 300 Palestinian prisoners, and the two sides are negotiating the release of about 400 others. Palestinian officials have expressed frustration with both the pace and scope of the releases, however. Nearly 8,000 Palestinians are in Israeli jails.

Abbas made no public statement after the talks. However, senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub said he hoped the declaration would help lead to a resumption of talks with Israel.

“From our side we have a commitment to a cease-fire,” he told reporters. “This declaration will pave the way to restore the political process.”

Underscoring the fragility of the accord, the militant groups, particularly Hamas, pointedly refused to describe it as a hudna, which is generally translated as a truce, though one of limited duration. Instead, they repeatedly used the term tahdia, or calm.

Internal tensions among the groups were evident at the meeting, though shrouded from public view. Arab media reported disagreements over the issue of power sharing in the Palestinian territories and that the meeting was cut short as a result.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority still harbor deep disagreements over how to deal with the militant groups in the long term. Abbas hopes they can be persuaded to give up the armed struggle, but the Israeli government wants him to crack down on the groups and take away their weapons.

“Clearly, this is better than Arafat, who pushed terror forward with both hands,” Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel Radio. But he said Abbas’ real test would be to dismantle the militant groups.

That criticism was echoed by Yuval Steinitz, the chairman of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

“The Palestinians are avoiding dismantling of the terror infrastructure and allowing terror against Israel to remain an option,” he told Israel’s Channel 10.

Even so, some seasoned Israeli observers regarded the talks as significant. “This time, it’s serious,” said Channel 2’s Arab affairs commentator, Ehud Yaari.

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Zayan reported from Sixth of October City and King from Jerusalem. Special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in Sixth of October City contributed to this report.