Hoefully we are taking those "baby steps" on the road to peace but......
Hamas and Islamic Jihad agree on draft cease-fire
By Arnon Regular, Aluf Benn and Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have agreed on a draft cease-fire for three months, in which they will cease attacks both in Israel and the territories.
But the groups have not yet given the Palestinian Authority their formal approval, apparently because the PA wants to defer the official announcement until the arrival of U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice this weekend.
The PA has wanted to achieve the cease-fire - also known as an Islamic hudna - before closing a deal with Israel in which the Palestinians will accept security responsibility for Gaza and Bethlehem, and possibly another West Bank town.
A leak about the cease-fire's acceptance forced Abdel Aziz Rantisi, considered the most hardline of the Hamas leaders, to deny that an agreement had been struck, but all the other spokesmen for Hamas in Gaza confirmed that there was an agreement, limited to three months.
An Islamic Jihad official also denied the reports, calling them "all lies."
Barghouti signed the agreement of behalf of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, the source said.
In the document, the militant groups agree to a moratorium on attacks for three months. In exchange, they demand Israel end targeted killings of militants and military incursions into Palestinian areas, the source said. They also call for a release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel - but do not set any deadline or timeframe for this, the source said.
"The Palestinian dialogue has resulted in a cease-fire agreement for a period of three months," senior Fatah official Kadoura Fares said Wednesday. "We in the Fatah movement demand that the Israeli government respond to this initiative with a comprehensive halting of aggression against the Palestinian people," Fares said. "We consider this as a step to ending occupation and we salute the spirit of responsibility in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
