The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, today said he could reach a ceasefire agreement with Islamic militant group Hamas as early as next week.
His comments, which were published today in the daily Yediot Ahronot, came hours before a scheduled meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to discuss the US-backed road map for peace.
Mr Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, met with Hamas last week, but no conclusions were reached. Another meeting is scheduled for next week, by which time Mr Abbas said that he hoped to have agreed a ceasefire.
He said he also hoped to reach an agreement with Islamic Jihad, but had not met representatives of the group yet.
Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantisi yesterday told the Associated Press that the organisation could be willing to go along with a ceasefire if Israel calls off military operations against Palestinians.
"Then Hamas is ready to halt targeting the Israeli civilians and limit the resistance against the soldiers and settlers inside the occupied lands," he said, indicating for the first time that Hamas could scale back attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, a key Israeli demand.
Mr Abbas' announcement is in line with his promise to stop militant attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis since the latest violence began 32 months ago, a crucial requirement of the first phase of the road map.
The peace plan calls for parallel steps by the two sides, but Israel has demanded that Mr Abbas cracks down on violent groups before the rest of the plan is implemented.
Mr Abbas has pledged to stop attacks, but said that he preferred dialogue over Israeli demands that he arrest and disarm militants.
Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon are due to meet tonight. It will be their second summit in two weeks to discuss the three-phase, three-year blueprint for ending bloodshed and creating a Palestinian state.
The meeting was turning into a preparatory session for a summit with the US president, George Bush, which the White House announced would take place in the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba on Wednesday. Palestinian officials said that they would also demand an explicit Israeli statement recognising their right to a state.
In today's interview, Mr Abbas told Yediot Ahronot that Hamas "will undertake to stop terrorism both inside the Green Line and in the territories" — a reference to both Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. "They have overall responsibility toward the Palestinian people's fate," he said.
Israel rejects the idea of a temporary ceasefire.
Mahmoud Alzahar, a senior Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, today told Israel Radio that the group was considering a ceasefire with no conditions attached.
"Hamas will discuss the issue of how to make a ceasefire," he said.
But the radio later reported that another senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Abu Shanab, had outlined three conditions for a ceasefire: that Israel stops operations against Palestinians, frees Palestinian prisoners, and withdraws from the West Bank and Gaza.
Military operations against Islamic militants continued in the West Bank and Gaza Strip early today. Israeli troops occupied houses and exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen, killing two members of Islamic militant groups, witnesses and the army said.
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