Palestinian officials said Monday they expect a positive response from Hamas on a truce with Israel soon, perhaps even by the end of the day, and Egyptian diplomatic sources said an announcement would be made in Cairo.
A Palestinian source involved in the truce talks said Monday that a final draft of the cease-fire has been sent to Khaled Mashal, a top Hamas leader in Damascus. According to AP, the draft does not specify the duration of the truce, and this will be left to Egyptian mediators to determine, the source said. The document states that the armed groups are willing to give Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas a chance to reach an agreement with the Israelis, according to the source.
The truce agreement was drawn up by Marwan Barghouti, a jailed Fatah leader, in his Israeli prison cell, said the source. Barghouti has been in close touch with Mashal through intermediaries, while Egypt has supervised the negotiations.
Egyptian diplomatic sources said Mashal was heading to Cairo later Monday or Tuesday, and that he would be accompanied by Ramadan Shalah, leader of the smaller Islamic Jihad group.
Several Palestinian Authority officials expressed optimism. "Hamas told us they would give us an answer on Monday so we expect an answer today, and we expect it to be a positive one," said Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, adding that they also expected "to get assurances about Israel's obligations not to carry out any attacks hopefully today as well."
Two other top officials, Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and adviser Sufian Abu Zaideh, also said that the direction was positive.
Palestinians killed
Four Palestinian activists killed late Sunday, apparently when a bomb they were planting went off in northern Gaza Strip.
At first, Palestinian security officials said Israeli tanks fired at a group of operatives from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, killing three men and wounding four others, in the northeast Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Another died later in a hospital, doctors said.
Later, however, loudspeaker trucks drove through the area saying that the four died while "fulfilling their national duty."
Israeli military sources told AP Israeli forces did not fire tank shells. Instead, they said, the activists were on their way to plant a bomb and it went off prematurely, killing them.
Early Monday, about 15 tanks entered the town of Qarara in central Gaza Strip and surrounded the house of a Hamas leader, security officials said.
Also Monday, a Palestinian gunman shot and wounded an Israeli motorist driving near the West Bank city of Jenin, a spokesman for Israel's medical rescue service said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
