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Sources
told IOL that Shalah (first) and Mashal are due in Cairo within
hours
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By
Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Cairo Staff
CAIRO,
June 24 (IslamOnline.net) - Palestinian factions are likely to hammer
out a truce agreement with Israel "tomorrow or the day after
tomorrow" to pave the way for implementing the U.S.-driven roadmap
plan, Egyptian political sources told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, June 24,
with U.S.-Egyptian talks underway to press Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon
into stopping aggressions on Palestinians.
Officials
from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are expected in Cairo within few hours
to discuss the outcome of a meeting held in Damascus Monday, June 23,
between Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas' politburo and Ramadan Shalah,
Jihad Secretary General, the sources added.
The
two Palestinian resistance movements held marathon talks on a proposed
truce with Israel over the past week.
While
Hamas officials are on board to accept a truce with Israel,
the Islamic Jihad favors an "undeclared truce," leaving
the final say to Shalah, the Egyptian sources told IOL.
However,
a Palestinian senior figure in Damascus, he requested anonymity, told
IOL that Hamas "has succeeded in convincing Jihad of the importance
of accepting a declared truce provided that Egypt and the Palestinian
Authority (PA) would be guarantors in their capacity as witnesses to
it."
The
Egyptian sources further said that after the
failed assassination attempt on the life of Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi on June 10
and the assassination
of Abdullah Qawasmeh, the commander of Hamas' armed wing Ezzudin
Al-Qassam Brigades in Al-Khalil Egypt "has been taking pains in
convincing Hamas and an Arab country supporting the group to stop
tit-for-tat attacks in order to foil Sharon’s plots to pit the PA and
the Palestinian factions against each other to spark off a Palestinian
civil strife."
U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell scolded
Sunday, June 22, Israel for the assassinating Qawasmeh as it might
impede peace efforts, while Hamas warned that it would not go
unpunished.
On
Friday, June 20, Powell declared Hamas as an enemy
of peace and told Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmmoud Abbas he should not wait
for Hamas to sign a truce deal but rather start disarming it.
Meanwhile,
an Egyptian delegation led by Gamal Mubarak, head of the ruling National
Democratic Party (NDP) Policy Committee, is holding talks with officials
in the U.S. to lay pressures on Sharon to stop attacks on Palestinians,
the sources said.
They
added that the delegation has so far held a number of meetings with U.S.
administration officials, including Bush's national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice, who is due in Israel by the end of this week.
