GAZA CITY, December 17 (IslamOnline.net) - Palestinian factions reiterated that no truce will be possible without Israel first giving guarantees for an end to its daily aggressions on Palestinian civilians and long-standing occupation of their country.

During talks with a visiting Egyptian delegation, led by deputy intelligence chief Mustafa El-Beheiri, the Palestinians reaffirmed their opposition to putting the cart before the horse.

"Palestinians are under occupation. And if it continues, resistance would never be halted," said Hamas senior official Abdel-Aziz Rantissi after meeting with the Egyptians at the house of the group's spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

"(Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and America should realize that we are defending our land and holy places, and we will not bow to their blackmail and terrorism," Rantissi told IslamOnline.net.

He denied talks dwelt on declaring a truce, or that the Egyptian delegation conveyed a message from the U.S. to Palestinian resistance factions.

"The ball is now in Israel's court. If Washington wished to pressure Israel, it should have asked it to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories," the senior Hamas leader said.

Delegates from other factions said the visiting Egyptian delegation carried promises from Washington for more efforts to support any Palestinian agreement.

"But we do not trust the U.S. in the first place and consider it an accomplice in the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people," said Gamil Al-Magdalawi of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

While Mohamed El-Hindi of the Islamic Jihad said the resistance factions are not ready to change their position on truce unless "the Egyptians come up with new guarantees".

"No truce for free. It should have a political price not just measures on the ground," Hindi said.

In a related development, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher would arrive in Israel and Palestinian territories next week amid Egyptian-led efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement.

Maher will meet Sharon and his Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, said an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Wednesday.

The top diplomat is also expected to hold talks with Israeli President Moshe Katsav, during his one-day trip, the spokesman added.

The trip comes one week after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with Shalom in Geneva in the first meeting between an Israeli official and the Egyptian president since Sharon assumed power.