ME truce declaration put off: Fatah

US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (C) shakes hands with Palestinian Cabinet Affairs Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo as Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath (R) and Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas (2nd L) look on prior to their talks in the West Bank town of Jericho on Saturday. Rice launched a crucial visit aimed at pushing along an internationally-backed Middle East peace initiative. Man on left is unidentified. Photo: AFP

"The hudna (truce) won't be declared today (as expected) due to differences on the wording of the agreement," Ahmed Ghneim, a senior Fatah official involved in talks between militant factions that went on all night, told Reuters.

Ghneim said the cease-fire, critical to a separate military disengagement deal under which Israel would pull back forces from the occupied Gaza Strip, could still be declared Monday or Tuesday.

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Fatah sources said the main problems were the refusal of a radical leftist faction to stop fighting and a demand by Islamist radicals that references to a US-backed peace plan be deleted because they oppose peacemaking in principle.

AP adds: A joint truce declaration by Palestinian militias, initially expected Sunday, has been delayed, a Palestinian Cabinet minister said.

In the statement, armed groups would declare a three-month suspension of attacks on Israelis.

The minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said he expected the announcement to be made Monday, with statements issued simultaneously from Cairo, the West Bank town of Ramallah and from Gaza City.

However, members of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction expressed last-minute objections to the declaration, and it was possible there would be further delays. The wrangling is over the wording of the introduction to the actual truce announcement.

AFP adds: Israeli troops will withdraw from reoccupied areas in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, a senior Palestinian security official said Sunday after a meeting with Israeli officials.

"The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, namely from Beit Hanun, Beit Lahia and from the buffer zones (with Israel), will start tomorrow morning," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Top Palestinian and Israeli security officials went into what was expected to be a final round of talks Sunday before the announcement of a deal for a phased handover of policing duties in designated areas, Palestinian security sources said.

The meeting is expected to yield an agreement on an army withdrawal from reoccupied areas in the northern Gaza Strip and from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

In exchange, the Palestinian security services will have to prevent attacks by militant groups against Israel from these areas.

The Palestinian delegation was led by Gaza police chief Abdelrazeq al-Majeida but Israeli sources did not specify who was heading the Israeli delegation in the talks at the Erez crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip.