The Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat, reacting to a reported Israeli security cabinet decision to give it 24 hours to end weeks of violence, rejected "Israeli threats" and vowed to continue the Intifada or uprising.
"Sometimes they give warnings for 48 hours, and sometimes for 24 hours," Palestinian cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman told reporters in Gaza City.
"The Palestinian leadership rejects these threats and warnings from (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Barak and (Foreign Minister) Shlomo Ben Ami, which aim to cover up the continuation of the (Israeli) aggressions and hold the Palestinians people responsible for them," he added.
"The popular Intifada is a reaction from the Palestinian people and its forces to the raids and occupation and the settlements and the Israeli government should understand that the blessed Intifada will continue until the occupation is thrown off and a Palestinian state is established with it capital in holy Jerusalem," he added.
Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath had earlier said it was up to Israel to take steps to ensure the success of the truce reached early Thursday between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres.
"As they want us to respect it, they must respect it," Shaath told AFP.
"The pullback of the Israeli forces, the halting of firing, and the lifting of the closure (on the Palestinian territories) are the path to returning to calm and stability," Shaath said.
The Palestinian Authority said Thursday the Intifada should continue but in a peaceful manner, following the Arafat-Peres accord.
But hardline groups rejected the agreement and a car-bomb, claimed by the extremist Islamic Jihad, exploded in Jerusalem later Thursday, killing two Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met late Thursday with his security cabinet to decide on the next move in the bid to rescue the peace process and came up with the 24-hour deadline, Israeli radio reported.
Barak's adviser Danny Yatom conceded however that Arafat could not restore calm immediately and said no one should be counting the minutes.
The Israeli army said late Thursday it had implemented measures to reduce violence in the Palestinian territories as stipulated in the accord reached between Arafat and Peres.
"Conforming with these agreements, our armored vehicles (in the West Bank) have returned to their hangars and bases, and are no longer in advanced positions. The heavy vehicles in the Gaza Strip have moved and are no longer positioned along the principal routes," the statement said.
It said the army has also "evacuated a position that it established several days ago on the main road linking Karni to the Netzarim settlement, in an area totally under Israeli control," referring to the access road between Gaza and Israel.
"The senior officers in southern and central Israel have met with their Palestinian counterpoints to restore calm," it added.
The Palestinian territories remain sealed off from Israel, however, and the Palestinian airport in the Gaza Strip is still closed -- GAZA CITY (AFP)
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