Palestinian militants rejected a halt on attacks without security guarantees from Israel, spoiling the Palestinian prime minister's bid to jump-start Mideast peace talks with a full cease-fire.

A masked Palestinian militant from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group linked to the Fatah movement walks past a burning tire during a demonstration against the Geneva Accord, in the Rafah refugee camp , southern Gaza Strip, Sunday Dec.7, 2003.  [AP]

After three days of talks in Egypt, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out most suicide attacks against Israel, would agree only to a limited truce Sunday: ending attacks on civilians in Israel, but not on Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia had hoped a full cease-fire would help lay the groundwork to jump-start the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. But the militant groups said they would only agree to a more comprehensive truce if Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made similar guarantees.

"Let Abu Ala (Qureia) talk with Sharon and ask him if he is ready to make a cease-fire. If Sharon is ready to make a cease-fire, we will study it," senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal said.

Egypt had called together the Palestinian factions — more than a dozen, ranging from Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement to the Islamic groups and smaller leftist movements — in hopes of producing a halt to all attacks. Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman wanted to present the truce to Washington next week in a broad proposal that could win U.S. backing and pressure Israel.

An official from Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian delegates said a further meeting was planned but no date for it was set.

Israel said it would accept only a comprehensive halt. "There's no halfway cease-fire," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He said Israel is willing to stop shooting if there was a total Palestinian truce.

Qureia, who joined the talks Sunday in the hopes of bridging the gap, left the Egyptian capital, and several delegates acknowledged the talks produced no concrete results.

"There are disagreements about the nature of a cease-fire," Maher Taher, a senior delegate for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told The Associated Press. "The factions have different positions on the issue."

Even when Qureia and Suleiman applied new pressure in a three-hour meeting Sunday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused to buckle. The two groups have killed hundreds of Israelis during more than three years of violence.

The militant factions also rejected giving Qureia authority to speak for them in any negotiations with Israel.

In June, the Palestinians declared a cease-fire on attacks within Israel that also was negotiated in Egypt. Israel was not formally part of that truce, and it collapsed after seven weeks, with Israel attacking Palestinians and Palestinians resuming suicide bombings.

"It was difficult for us and other factions to accept a new truce without guarantees from the Israeli side, because the previous truce failed in the same way, because of no Israeli guarantees," said Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza.

In the end, delegates said the Cairo meetings would only produce a final statement, but no deal.

In exchange for the full truce, Egypt and Fatah were demanding that Israel stop building settlements, pull its troops out of Palestinian areas reoccupied during the uprising and halt construction of its so-called security barrier along the borders with Palestinian areas, which juts into Palestinian land.

Sharon said Israel is still interested in a cease-fire.

"The solution is that if there is total quiet and there won't be terror, Israel will make every effort to abstain from its activity against terrorists," he said. He made the comments before the Cairo talks ended.

The Palestinian suicide attacks have targeted buses, cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and outdoor markets inside Israeli territory, drawing condemnation from the international community as well as from the Palestinian Authority. But no deadly suicide bombings have occurred in Israel for more than two months.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+Wen warns Taiwan not to misuse democracy ( 2003-12-08) +Beijingers get greater poll choices ( 2003-12-08) +Chinese netizens to hit 78 million ( 2003-12-08) +Kicking around on roof of the world ( 2003-12-08) +Massive west-to-east migration proposed ( 2003-12-08)		+Palestinian militants reject cease-fire ( 2003-12-08) +Four Russians killed in Chechen guerrilla ambush ( 2003-12-08) +PluggedIn: SmartPhones, Handhelds May Someday Threaten Laptops ( 2003-12-08) +Talks seek global internet ground rules ( 2003-12-08) +Wintry storm leaves the Northeast US digging ( 2003-12-08)