Arab News

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 29 June 2003 — Palestinian groups said yesterday they expected to temporarily halt attacks on Israelis as US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice arrived in the region last evening on a crucial visit aimed at pushing along an internationally-backed Middle East peace initiative. Rice later held talks in Jericho with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

In Cairo, an Arab League source told AFP, Palestinian factions will announce their three-month cease-fire in anti-Israeli attacks tomorrow at the latest.

“The announcement of the truce will take place Sunday night or Monday morning simultaneously in Cairo and the Palestinian territories,” the source, who is close to the Palestinian dossier, said yesterday.

He added that representatives of several hard-line Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad were already in Cairo, while teams from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah and other factions were expected to arrive shortly.

A Palestinian source said key to the truce deal was a US promise to pressure Israel to stop targeting Palestinians.

“We expect to declare the final agreement in the coming 24 hours,” said senior Islamic Jihad official Mohammed Al-Hindi, a day after Hamas said it had decided to suspend attacks. “We accept the idea and we are now putting the last finishing (touches) on the paper,” he said. Nabil Abu Rudeinah, senior adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and a Fatah member, said the truce announcement was imminent.

Abu Rudeinah told Reuters that the Palestinians expected Rice to “continue to pressure Israel to abide by the agreements and to implement the road map”, which calls for reciprocal measures leading to a Palestinian state by 2005.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had said that a truce would be a useful step toward peace but must be followed by the dismantling of hard-line groups.

Palestinian officials have said a confrontation with hard-liners could start a civil war. At least one group said it would not abide by the cease-fire.

“We do not agree to stop the resistance against the Israeli occupation,” said Jamil Al-Madalawi, a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In Gaza, an explosive device went off as a convoy with US diplomats drove through the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, damaging at least two vehicles but causing no injuries, Israeli military sources said.