Islamic Jihad for conditional truce

Source: alalam.ir, 30-04-2008
CAIRO-The Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad has said any possible truce with the "Israeli" occupying regime will not restrict its right to respond to strikes by the Zionist regime in the West Bank.
Abu Emad al-Rifaie, a senior member of Islamic Jihad, said Tuesday the group told Egyptian mediators that it approved -- with qualifications -- a Hamas proposal for a truce with the occupying regime that starts in the Gaza Strip.
After talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, he told Reuters in Cairo: "This approval is under the condition that in the event of any 'Israeli' aggression against our mujahideen (fighters) or people in the West Bank ... we reserve our right to respond to such massacres."
The Islamist movement Hamas has said extending the ceasefire to Palestinians in the 'Israeli'-occupied West Bank was "an option".
Egypt invited 12 Palestinian groups for talks to form a consensus on Hamas' six-month ceasefire proposal last week between Palestinians and the occupying regime.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, said the proposal would also include an end to the 'Israeli'-led blockade on the strip.
Abou Adnan al-Baba, member of the central command of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said his group has agreed to drop the condition that the truce starts in Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously.
Baba said the PRC, a coalition of factions that includes armed wings firing rockets against 'Israel', would keep its "eyes open and decide how to deal with the situation in time" if 'Israel' launched military operations in the West Bank.
Ramzi Rabah, a senior member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said his group told Suleiman the truce should start in all Palestinian territories.
A truce between 'Israel' and the Palestinians in Gaza would lift some pressure off Egypt, a key regional mediator, which does not want to be viewed as aiding the blockade on Gaza or see Palestinian activists storm its border with the coastal strip.
Palestinians breached the border this year, allowing hundreds of thousands of Gazans to cross into Sinai.
Failure of Palestinians to reach common ground or 'Israeli' rejection of the truce would complicate Egyptian efforts to end violence in the Gaza Strip.
The talks in Cairo, which will continue on Wednesday, were overshadowed by the martyrdom of six Palestinians, including four children and their mother, as they were having breakfast on Monday in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
Nasser Ezzat, a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said his group doubted any truce with 'Israel' was viable but would not breach the Palestinian consensus.
"The Popular Front in principle does not see the truce issue as a correct stance as long as there was still occupation," he said.
'Israel' pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 but still controls its borders and has tightened its restrictions on the territory.