Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003
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TRYING HIS HAND: The U.S. envoy, John Wolf (left), meets the Palestininan Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, to Pursue peace, in Gaza City on Tuesday.
The head of the U.S. monitoring team, John Wolf, held talks with Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Prime Minister's meeting with Palestinian militias later in the day. On Monday, Egyptian mediators went home without a firm agreement from Hamas and other armed groups to lay down arms, but Palestinian officials said they were confident a deal could be reached in the coming days. The Palestinian legislator, Hanan Ashrawi, said the talks were going well. ``Maybe, after 24 hours, there will be positive results,'' she said after meeting Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League, in Cairo on Tuesday. The militants have said they are willing, in principle, to halt attacks, but have attached conditions: Israel must halt targeted killings of Palestinians suspected of involvement in violence and other military strike, release prisoners and withdraw to positions held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000. However, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, told Parliament on Monday that he would continue his offensive against Hamas. Israel also says a ceasefire, or so-called ``hudna,'' can only be a step toward dismantling the armed groups. Mr. Abbas has said he would not use force against the militias for fear of triggering civil war. The United States has not taken sides publicly in this dispute. Israel has sent the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Avi Dichter, to Washington to brief the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and other officials on the Government's position regarding Hamas and a hudna. In another development, the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, called the wife of the imprisoned West Bank leader, Marwan Barghouti, early Tuesday, and told her Israel would release Mr. Barghouti in the next two days. The Israeli Attorney-General wrote to Mr. Sharon that it would be `inconceivable' to release Mr. Barghouti whom he described as a ``first-rate architect of terrorism,'' before the trial has ended. A source close to the talks said U.S. mediators would press Israel to end the targeted killings, and that if it succeeded, the militant groups would then agree to a truce. AP
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