"Sharon must stop his aggression against the Palestinian people," Nazzal

Additional Reporting By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinian factions ended talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo late Sunday, December 7, without agreeing to a truce with Israel and refusing to give a full mandate to Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei.

Following four days of marathon Egyptian-sponsored talks, the 12 resistance factions insisted on having first mutual Israeli and U.S. guarantees in order to promulgate full or even partial ceasefire.

Although the factions, notably Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, neared an accord on a final statement stressing the need "to spare civilians on both sides," they fell short Sunday of reaching a common ground on this issue as well.

"The talks have ended. Differences remained on the question of a mutual ceasefire" between Israel and the Palestinians, said Maher al-Taher of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

"Nor was there an agreement on the question of sparing civilians," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A press statement is being drafted. The text will underline the positive points achieved during the talks," Taher said.

No Truce Accord

Mohammed Nazzal, a Hamas top official, confirmed "we did not reach an agreement on the subject of a truce".

"We think that the Palestinians have nothing to do. Rather it's Sharon who must stop his aggression against the Palestinian people," he said.

But well-placed sources told IslamOnline.net that Hamas is still mulling the possibility of sparing civilians resistance operations.

Ziyaad Nekhala, the Islamic Jihad's assistant secretary general, told IOL on Sunday that Hamas and his movement had further rebuffed a compromise proposed by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.

The "Step by Step" blueprint stated that any positive Israeli action should be reciprocated with a similar Palestinian move.

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

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 Ahmad Qorei’s government to move on the political arena.

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.

From the outset, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and two other factions rejected a full ceasefire, saying Israel was offering no concessions in return.

The Palestinian premier arrived in Cairo Saturday, December 6, hoping to use a full ceasefire as a bargaining chip in talks with Israel, but headed back empty-handed to the West Bank on Sunday.

The defiant Israeli government of Ariel Sharon announced Sunday that it would categorically reject any agreement reached by Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo.