Palestinians in Cairo over truce talks

Esmalia, Egypt: Egypt held talks on Saturday with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, part of a push for a truce between the fighter groups and Israel, officials said.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza said Khalid Al Batsh of Islamic Jihad was present as was Hamas official Jamal Abu Hashem.

The talks were held in government offices on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

With US backing, Egypt has been trying to negotiate a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza fighters who fire rockets across the border into the Jewish state.

Barhoum said the Egyptians had informed the Palestinians of consultations "with several parties," and that the Palestinians would now hold consultations at home.

An Egyptian source close to the talks said the Palestinian delegation called for the release of 36 members of Hamas detained in Egypt after Palestinian fighters breached the border in January.

"The Egyptians have promised to release the [Gazan] detainees in the near future. Hamas hopes that we will see deeds and not only promises as we are highly concerned about the continued detention and torture of detainees," Barhoum said.

Earlier this week, senior Hamas official Saeed Seyam said in an interview posted online that detainees were tortured in Egyptian jails, and that interrogators wanted to know the location of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Shalit, then 19, was captured by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid into an Israeli army base in June 2006.

Hamas has said it will not release Shalit unless Israel frees nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences.

Peace push: Cheney heads to Israel

US Vice-President Dick Cheney was to visit Israel on Saturday to try to push forward Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, his spokeswoman said.

He will also visit the Palestinian territories, before leaving for Turkey, his last stop on a nine-day visit to the Middle East. Earlier, Cheney ended a visit to Saudi Arabia.

"The vice-president's discussions will involve the ways forward in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism and to protect its citizenry," Lea Anne McBride, Cheney's spokeswoman, told reporters travelling with him.

- Reuters