Hamas rejects Arafat appeal to renew truce

Khaleej Times, (AFP)

28 August 2003

GAZA CITY - The Islamic group Hamas rejected on Thursday an appeal by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to renew a truce which was called off after the killing of one of its co-founders last week. “Hamas rejects the appeal (by Arafat) to resume the truce as the Zionist occupation has the torpedoed the truce with their assassinations of women, children and Palestinian political leaders,” Hamas political leader Abdelaziz Rantissi told AFP. “We cannot speak about a truce while aggression against the Palestinian people continues.”

Arafat said in a statement Wednesday that a renewal of the truce would “give a chance to all peaceful international efforts for the implementation of the roadmap”, in reference to a US-backed peace plan.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad both called off a seven-week-old truce last week in the aftermath of the killing of senior Hamas figure Ismail Abu Shanab in an Israeli air strike in Gaza.  The truce had already been effectively wrecked by a Hamas suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem last week which left 21 people dead.

Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas broke off all contact with the two groups in the wake of the Jerusalem bomb.

Rantissi said that Hamas was “ready to talk” with Abbas.

“We are in favour of dialogue but it is impossible to make progress in a situation which is extremely dangerous,” he added.