Region | Palestinian Territories
Palestinian groups want ceasefire to include West Bank
Several Palestinian groups said on Tuesday a possible truce with Israel must include all Palestinian territories simultaneously, opposing a Hamas suggestion that it start in the Gaza Strip.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:14 April 30, 2008
Cairo: Several Palestinian groups said on Tuesday a possible truce with Israel must include all Palestinian territories simultaneously, opposing a Hamas suggestion that it start in the Gaza Strip.
"Any reasonable Palestinian should assume that this is essential," Abou Adnan Al Baba, a member of the central command of the Popular Resistance Committees, said in Cairo before a meeting between the groups and Egyptian intelligence officials to reach a Palestinian consensus on the ceasefire proposal.
Egypt invited the groups for talks after Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, proposed a six-month truce between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, with an option to extend it to Palestinians in the West Bank.
Hamas, which was not at Tuesday's meeting, said the ceasefire would also include an end to the Israeli-led blockade of the coastal strip. Israel has dismissed the proposal as a Hamas ploy to gain time and prepare for more fighting.
The truce proposal emerged from several rounds of talks between Egypt and Hamas, with the blessing of the United States.
The failure of Palestinians to reach common ground or Israeli rejection of the truce would complicate Egyptian efforts to end violence in the Gaza Strip.
The talks in Cairo were overshadowed by the killing of six Palestinians in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said day the Jewish state "deeply" regrets the killing of four children and their mother during an Israeli army operation in the Gaza Strip.
"The state of Israel and the government deeply regret that civilians not involved [in the violence] are affected and even more so when it concerns a mother and her four children," Olmert said in a weekly cabinet meeting.
Israel said the deaths were tragic and occurred when an aircraft fired at two Palestinians carrying munitions, which exploded and destroyed the home of the family.
Maher Al Tahir, politburo member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Reuters his group doubted any truce with Israel was viable.
"Israel launches aggressions against the Palestinian people every day and has not committed to any truce," he said.
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