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Palestinian authority to try to save ceasefire
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-14 09:40
The Palestinian Authority voiced its commitment on Monday to maintain a
ceasefire with Israel after Palestinian militant groups signaled the truce was
in jeopardy amid a flare-up in violence.
"Every effort should be exerted to sustain the quiet. But it cannot be
sustained by one side only. Both sides should be committed to stop violence
against one another mutually and simultaneously," said Palestinian Chief
Negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas looks on
during a meeting with Fatah movement members at his office in the West
Bank city of Ramallah June 13, 2005.[Reuters] | He
said the issue would be "on top of the agenda" during a planned summit between
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on
June 21.
In a statement over the weekend, 13 Palestinian factions accused Israel of
"non-compliance with conditions of calm," and said the Jewish state would be
held "fully responsible" if a de facto truce they declared in March would
collapse.
Militants in the Gaza Strip have stepped up mortar bomb and rocket barrages
against Israelis in recent weeks in what they said were in response to "Israeli
aggressions" and the army has targeted gunmen involved in such attacks and
wanted militants.
In the latest flare-up, gunmen killed two Palestinian farmers and a Chinese
worker last week in a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza after Israeli
troops shot dead a militant commander in the West Bank.
"Calm is now in danger because the conditions and demands for calm have not
been implemented by the Zionist enemy, (who) continues to carry out the ugliest
crimes against our people," said Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for the Islamic
group Hamas.
Militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a
militia group linked to the ruling Fatah movement, practice jumping a wall
during a training exercise in Gaza City, Friday June 10,
2005.[AP/file] | After declaring a truce with
Sharon in February to end more than four years of violence, Abbas coaxed the 13
factions, including militant groups sworn to Israel's destruction, into agreeing
to a "period of calm" until the end of the year.
Israel says non-violence is essential for carrying out its planned pullout
from the Gaza Strip in August and that it could seize Palestinian towns in the
area temporarily if gunmen carry out attacks during its evacuation of all 21
settlements.
The Palestinian factions said the truce could not continue unless Israel
released all Palestinian prisoners, withdrew from West Bank towns and stopped
all violence against Palestinians.
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