Palestinians fail to reach cease fire agreement with Israel

CAIRO, Egypt -- Palestinians on Sunday failed to reach agreement on any truce offer to Israel, even a conditional one, after three days of talks mired in arguments, delegates said.\nNegotiators from Palestinian factions -- including Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- were split over whether to offer a full cease-fire or a limited truce that would only stop attacks inside Israel.\nThe failure was a major setback to what Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and the Egyptian mediators in the negotiations had hoped would be a way to revive the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. Egypt wanted to present a full-scale truce to the United States and pressure Israel to move forward.\nQureia, who joined the talks in Cairo in the hopes of pulling off a deal, left the Egyptian capital without an agreement in hand. Delegates said a statement will be issued later outlining the results of the meetings.\nMaher Taher, a senior delegate from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said disagreements over the degree of the cease-fire could not be bridged.\nWhen asked whether the statement would include reference to halting attacks on civilians, a broader cease-fire or a mandate to the Palestinian Authority to negotiate terms with Israel, he replied: "None of the above ... and so we will end with a press release."\n"There are disagreements about the nature of a cease-fire," he told The Associated Press. "The factions have different positions on the issue."\n"The statement will have no mention of refraining from attacks on civilians," said Samir Ghosheh, head of the Palestinian Struggle Front, one of the more than dozen groups which attended the Palestinian talks.\nMohammed Nazzal, a senior Hamas official in Cairo for the talks, said Hamas, Islamic Jihad and three Palestinian factions have submitted an offer about sparing civilians. The offer was conditional on Israel also agreeing in principle before the militants go into the details.\n"We declared that we are ready to avoid civilians from both sides," Nazzal told Associated Press Television News.\nIsrael rejected that idea, because Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza would still be targets. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have carried out most suicide attacks against Israel.\nThe Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat opposed issuing a statement that fell short of offering a total halt to hostilities.\nHamas also resisted any wording authorizing the Palestinian Authority to negotiate with Israel -- which would have been a rejection of the peace process Hamas has rejected. "We are not ready to give them authorization to sign a new agreement," Nazzal said.\nEgypt invited the factions, ranging from the mainstream to the Islamic militant and the radical leftist, hoping for a full-scale. Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman is to travel to Washington this week and had hoped to take a broad proposal that could win U.S. backing, putting pressure on Israel to go along with a truce.\nIn a three-hour meeting with Qureia and Suleiman earlier Sunday, the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused to buckle under pressure, announcing after the talks that they reject a comprehensive truce.\n"Hamas is not ready to make a comprehensive cease-fire," Nazzal said. "This is final."\nEgypt, the sponsor of the talks, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction both pushed for a total halt to violence -- inside Israel and against Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers in Palestinian areas -- if Israel would agree to stop military operations and make political compromises.\nBut Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and three Syrian-based factions would only agree to a limited, conditional truce calling for a end to attacks on civilians inside Israel. Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza would remain targets.\nAlthough a cease-fire for attacks within Israel could amount to a significant drop in violence, Israel said such an offer would be unacceptable.\n"There's no half-way cease-fire," said Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He said Israel is willing to stop shooting if there was a total Palestinian cease-fire.\n"If there will be a complete cessation (of violence) ... we will refrain from military action," he told AP in Jerusalem.\nIsrael's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said a complete end to violence could open the way for resuming negotiations.\n"They have to stop terrorist actions unilaterally and without any reservations, stop it entirely and completely. If they will stop it, there will be a basis for further discussion about implementing the 'road map,'" he said before the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting Sunday.\nEgypt and Qureia both argued a total truce was a way to revive the "road map," the latest Mideast peace plan being pushed by the United States and the international community that would lead to creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.\nQureia, who met with President Hosni Mubarak earlier Sunday, sought to put the factional divisions in the best light.\n"That the Palestinian dialogue took place in itself is a success," he told reporters. "It is also a message to the world that we are united behind our cause."\nIn June, the Palestinians declared a cease-fire on attacks within Israel that also was negotiated in Egypt. Israel was not formally part of that truce, which collapsed after seven weeks with Israel attacking Palestinians and Palestinians resuming suicide bombings.\nThe Palestinian suicide attacks have targeted buses, cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and outdoor markets inside Israeli territory, killing hundreds and drawing condemnation from the international community as well as from the Palestinian Authority.\nIsrael's army has retaliated harshly -- using tanks, warplanes and helicopters on Palestinians -- and reoccupied most of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza in pursuit of militants.