Mideast truce 'meaningless'

2003-10-28 10:31

Jerusalem - The Palestinian premier said he is making progress in talks with militant groups about a new truce to stop attacks against Israelis, but Israel said it is interested only in a crackdown on the violent groups, not a cease-fire.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said on Monday that there are contacts with the violent Hamas and Islamic Jihad - responsible for most of the 104 suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis during three years of conflict - about stopping attacks.

Hamas officials said that Qorei had proposed talks about a halt to attacks against Israelis, and Hamas was considering the possibility..

The new truce would replace one declared on June 29, which lasted about six weeks before collapsing in a spate of Palestinian bombings and Israeli retaliation.

However, there would be a key difference: The first truce was a unilateral step by the main Palestinian militant groups. This time, Qorei said, Israel would have to be a party to the cease-fire.

"If there is no mutual commitment, then there is no meaning to a cease-fire," he said in Ramallah.

Israel, however, is not interested in a truce, demanding instead that the Palestinians carry out the requirement in the US-backed "roadmap" peace plan, that the Palestinians dismantle the violent groups.

'Failed truce was a fraud'

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters in Jerusalem that the failed truce was a fraud to begin with.

"Extremists took advantage of this period of time in order to dig more tunnels, to smuggle more weapons, to train their activists in their training camps and to make tests in order to extend the range of their missiles," he said.

"There is no way to achieve peace while the infrastructure of the terrorist organisations still exist," Shalom said. "We can't accept any proposal of one more cease-fire."

Meanwhile, violence continued on Monday in the Gaza Strip. One Palestinian was killed, one wounded and three were detained by Israeli troops near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. It was not clear whether the five were trying to sneak into Israel, the army said.

Systematic sabotage

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of systematically sabotaging the peace plan. "These actions have to be condemned by the United States and the quartet (of Mideast mediators) and I call upon them to intervene immediately," Erekat said.

Separately, an Israeli parliamentary committee gave final approval to transfer what opposition lawmakers estimated as $20 million in extra funding to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The funds, an addition to the funding that had been planned for 2003, are earmarked for building infrastructure for public buildings and to supplying temporary buildings to outlying outposts.

All could be interpreted as contrary to the roadmap, a blueprint for Palestinian statehood by 2005 which was launched in June with great fanfare but quickly bogged down over disagreements and violence.

- AP