Palestinians carry the body of Hamas fightrer Saleh Talhmeh, who was assassinated by Israeli troops on December 1

By Abdul Raheem Ali, Mohammad Gamal Arafa, IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 6 (IslamOnline.net) – The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has notified Egypt with its opposition to a proposed one-year conditional truce with Israel, arguing a ceasefire should stem from a strategic vision serving the Palestinian cause and be preceded by U.S. and Israeli guarantees, sources close to the Cairo-hosted inter-Palestinian dialogue told IslamOnline.net.

Mohammad Nezal, a member of Hamas delegation to the talks, repudiated media reports that a truce was imminent, asserting that it was rebuffed by many factions.

"Hamas opposes a truce and would not accept it because we believe that the current situation indicates and America-Zionist crisis over continued resistance in Iraq and Palestinian," he added.

"Mistaken are those who urge [Palestinian] factions to halt the resistance while the Zionists continue killings, " said the Hamas official.

Nizal added that those calling for a truce, should instead seek to pressure Zionists, recalling the June unilateral Palestinian truce was breached by Israel.

Meanwhile, Hamas officials have told Egyptian officials that a ceasefire could not agreed upon on the nod without getting acquainted with the U.S. and Israeli guarantees and commitments, well-kept Palestinian sources told IOL.

But they hinted at halting resistance operations on Israeli civilians if Israel ceased its attacks on the Palestinian people.

Four other factions, including the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), have voiced similar opposition to a year-long halt to resistance operations.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), however, said they would go for a new truce with Israel.

Hamas officials criticized the "unserious" U.S. administration for being unwilling to consider any Arab or Palestinian conditions because it does not want to lose the backing of the Jewish lobby in the presidential elections in November 2004.

Hamas believes that the U.S. has become much more interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because it wanted to drift the attention away from its current limbo in Iraq, but only in a way that serves the U.S. interests, said the sources.

Leadership Reservation

Hamas officials also made some reservations on establishing a unified Palestinian leadership, a proposal put forward by Egypt.

They argued that the resistance factions would then be represented by a handful of members against a majority of Palestinian Authority members.

"Then, it will be Arafat's decision while Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are going to play the role of analysts to the PA's decisions. Even worse, both factions would take the blame for such decision since they are part of this unified leadership," the sources told IOL.

Hamas further said that it would not be caught in the trap of giving a mandate to the PA, adding that the Authority would abuse such a mandate by tailoring decisions and paying no heed to the mandate's conditions.

Confidence Crisis

The Islamic Jihad attributed Hamas' position on a truce to a "confidence crisis between the PA and the main factions".

Jihad's assistant secretary general Ziyad Nikhala, who also heads the movement delegation to the Cairo talks, said that pastime experiences proved that the PA and its political wing Fatah did what they liked.

He said that the Islamic Jihad almost shared identical viewpoints with Hamas.

"But every factions has its own ways of expression and so far we have not reached a common ground on the items of Cairo dialogue," Nikhala told IOL.

He spoke of a unanimous agreement on not pledging a "free truce" with Israel, noting that the Israeli and U.S. guarantees have struck the discordant note.

"I am not optimistic and do not expect to clinch an agreement at the conclusion of the talks," which are expected to close later on Saturday, Nikhala added.

He, however, hoped that Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei's participation in the final session of the talks would bring about something new that could turn the whole talks upside down.

Fatal Mistake

But the head of the DFLP, Fahd Soliman, criticized Hamas for its position on the truce, asserting that its vision did not appeal to other factions, save the Islamic Jihad and the PFLP.

He said Hamas would make a fatal mistake if it adamantly maintained its opposition to the mooted year-long truce.

Soliman charged Hamas of leading the Palestinian cause towards "an abyss" and would be the only one to blame before the Palestinian people for any repercussions if the talks failed.

He urged Hamas to give its position a second reading and give a chance for the Egyptian blueprint in order to expose Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon and his right-wing cabinet.

"There is nothing to lose if we stop resistance operations for a couple of moths in return for important gains, notably a halt to [Israeli] aggressions and assassinations and release of prisoners," said the DFLP leader.

Fatah's head to the talks Zakariya al-Agha suggested during Friday talks an internationally-supervised year-long truce between resistance groups and Israel.

According to the proposal, Israel should halt its aggression on the Palestinian people, withdraw to pre-Intifada positions, dismantle all settlements built since March 2001 and release all Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails.

The factions kicked off a new round of talks Thursday, December 4, holding a three-hour meeting with the Egyptian intelligence chief.

Omar Suleiman tabled a three-point program for the talks: mooting a plan of action for the next year, forming a unified political leadership and finally authorizing Qorei’s government to move on the political arena.