CAIRO (Reuters)
Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials have agreed to an Egyptian proposal for a truce with Israel starting in the Gaza Strip, state news agency MENA said on Wednesday.
"All the Palestinian factions have agreed to the Egyptian proposal on a truce with Israel," MENA said, citing an unnamed high-level Egyptian official.
The official said the Egyptian proposal included a "comprehensive, reciprocal and simultaneous truce, implemented in a graduated framework starting in the Gaza Strip and then subsequently moving to the West Bank," MENA added.
"This proposal is a phase of a broader plan that aims at providing an appropriate atmosphere before lifting the blockade and ending the state of Palestinian division," it said.
The Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo include Islamic Jihad, but not
Hamas, which controls Gaza, or the Fatah party that rules over the West Bank.
The deal has already been accepted by the Islamist movement Hamas, while Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, from rival Fatah, on Sunday gave the negotiations unconditional support.
MENA said an official statement would be released later in the day once Egyptian intelligence chief and chief mediator with Israel Omar Suleiman finishes his two days of talks with the factions on Wednesday.
Suleiman is expected to travel to Occupied Jerusalem in the next few days to present the proposal for a period of calm to Israel.
Egypt has been serving as a go-between in truce negotiations, as Israel refuses any direct contacts with organizations it considers terror groups.
The agreement of Islamic Jihad, which fires most rockets from Gaza into Israel, is seen as crucial for the deal.
Other factions present include the leftists Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Struggle Front (PSF).
Hamas last week told the Egyptians it would be ready to accept a truce first in the Gaza Strip, to be followed six months later in the West Bank. The Israeli blockade of Gaza since June 2007 must all be lifted, according to the deal. |
