Israel cool to PA offer of truce for end to boycott
".....A senior Hamas official told Haaretz on Tuesday that if Israel agrees to persuade the international community not to boycott the new Palestinian unity government, the Palestinians "will offer a promise from Hamas and Fatah of a total cease-fire with Israel, including a complete halt to Qassam [rocket] fire and suicide bombings."
But said Prime Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisen, "We need to see that you can actually implement the ceasefire [in Gaza] before we can consider an extension."......
But a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, a group that carried out a suicide bombing in Israel in January and did not sign a Gaza truce in November, said it opposed the idea raised in negotiations on finalizing a unity government.
"We cannot talk about calm while the Zionist aggression is continuing against our Palestinian people in the West Bank and the escalation against Islamic Jihad members and leaders," the leader, Khaled al-Batsh, said.
Israel has killed three Islamic Jihad militants in raids in the occupied West Bank since a Jan. 29 suicide attack in the Red Sea resort of Eilat killed three Israelis.
Batsh said his group was planning attacks to avenge the deaths of its men.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to deliver this offer at his upcoming meeting with Olmert, Palestinian sources said. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, thought according to the Palestinians, the date has not yet been finalized......."
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As I said yesterday, Hamas is now indistinguishable from Fatah and is likely to clash with Islamic Jihad, soon. Celebrate, now!
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