Palestinian militants extend truce

An Israeli security guard aims his gun at an angry Palestinian during a demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Saffa, near Ramallah yesterday. An agreement by Palestinian militant groups, reached yesterday in Cairo, to extend an informal truce until the end of the year is "positive" but "not enough", Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. PHOTO: AFP

"If all the terror organisations, especially the extreme ones, are ready to stop, if only for a while, that in itself is a positive thing," Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

"But is it enough? Certainly not. Does it mean the Palestinian Authority is waging a war on terror. Certainly not. But they are definitely making an effort," he told army radio.

At talks in Cairo Thursday presided over by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, the 13 main factions pledged to maintain a truce until the end of the year but stopped short of declaring the formal ceasefire hoped for by the international community.

"The participants have reached an agreement on a political programme until the end of the current year which states their commitment to respecting the atmosphere of calm currently prevailing in exchange for an end to aggressions against our people," a statement said.

Israel immediately reciprocated by announcing an extension to its own halt to military offensives in the occupied territories, first annou-nced at a summit in Egypt last month, as long as the Palestinians maintained the de facto peace.

"At the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, Israel agreed not to launch offensive operations as long as there is a complete end to violence on the Palestinian side and we are sticking to that commitment," an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.

But the first signs of a crack in the fragile calm emerged early Friday with the announcement by a Gaza-based militant group, which did not attend the Cairo talks, that it would not be bound by the truce.

"We totally reject the results of the Cairo meeting, having not taken part, and we are not bound to respect the outcome," the Popular Resistance Committees said in a statement sent to AFP in Gaza City.

The group was formed at the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 by security elements from the mainstream Fatah movement, but has since attracted dissident of all the principal Palestinian factions.

Apparently devoid of ideology, its sole raison d'etre appears to be to organise anti-Israeli attacks.

The group said it had already respected a two-month period of calm, which is due to expire on Saturday, but said it would not maintain the lull because of "Zionist violations".

"Our patience is up and it is time that our fighters make the enemy pay for these two months,", it said.

Abbas has been under intense pressure from both Israel and the United States to disarm the militant groups, but has so far focused his efforts on securing their agreement to a ceasefire for fear that any stronger moves might spark a major confrontation.