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Sat 25 Nov, 2006 05:47 pm
Palestinians, Israel agree on Sunday morning ceasefire by Adel Zaanoun
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian militant groups agreed to halt all rocket fire from the Gaza Strip against Israel from Sunday at 0400 GMT, drawing an Israeli promise to halt military operations and withdraw from the Palestinian territory.
Palestinian Authority "president (Mahmud) Abbas and prime minister Ismail Haniyeh agreed with all factions to establish calm and stop rockets being fired (against Israel) as of Sunday," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told at a press conference in Gaza City.
"There was a telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas, who told him that the factions were willing" to stop firing the rockets, he said.
"Ehud Olmert agrees to stop all military operations and begin withdrawing from the Gaza Strip at the same time," he added.
Together with the Palestinian announcement, Israel said it "will respond favourably" to the ceasefire proposal.
"The prime minister spoke with top Israeli ministers and security officials and informed Abbas that Israel will respond favorably" to the ceasefire, Olmert's office said in a statement to AFP.
According to the statement, Olmert received a phone call from Abbas "who announced that he arrived at an agreement with the Palestinian factions to stop all violence including rocket fire, tunneling and suicide bombings and that the cease fire would start at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT)."
Abbas also told Olmert that "all the Palestinian factions are committed to the agreement and requested that in respond Israel would stop all military actions in the Gaza Strip and would withdraw all troops from the Gaza Strip."
Olmert, in turn, "spoke with top Israeli ministers and security officials and informed Abbas that Israel will respond favourably as Israel was in the Gaza Strip in response to the violence," the statement said.
Israel has been operating inside the volatile Palestinian territory since late June, when militants captured a soldier in a daring cross-border raid, in a bid to retrieve the conscript and end the constant rocket menace.
In recent days, Israeli troops have stepped up an air and ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip in a bid to counter near daily Palestinian rocket attacks.
On Friday, Israel rejected a Palestinian ceasefire offer, with government spokeswoman Miri Eisin describing it as a "partial ceasefire" impossible to take seriously.
"The suggestion concerns a partial ceasefire, limited to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in exchange for a total halt to Israeli operations on all fronts. This is not serious," she said.
"We are still committed to the quiet, but Israel is not committed. Israel is continuing its aggression and when it stops the aggression, the rockets will stop," Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press. "If the enemy stops the aggression the quiet will go on."
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Quote:"I am extending my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbors in the hope that it will not be returned empty," Olmert said in a major policy address at the grave of David Ben-Gurion in Sde Boker, during a ceremony commemorating the death of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.
"We, the state of Israel, will agree to withdraw from a large amount of territory, and from the settlements that we established there -something that is very difficult for us, [equivalent to] a parting of the Red Sea - but we will do that in exchange for real peace," he said, directly addressing the Palestinians.
"You must end the violence and terrorism, and the desire to harm Israeli citizens in the south, north and center, recognize our right to live in peace alongside you, and give up your demand for the right of refugee return'," he said.
Olmert told the Palestinians that "the terror, the violence, the acts of murder and unending attacks on Israeli citizens are liable to lead to us a new painful wave of horrible violence."
He called on them to reject the "uncompromising extremism of your terrorist organizations" and choose a new path.
Referring to Saturday night's declaration of a cease-fire in Gaza, Olmert said that a new path was begun. "We started on a path that I hope will bring us to the goal that we all want to achieve: peace, quiet, and mutual trust," he said.
The prime minister said that if a new Palestinian Authority government accepts the Quartet's conditions fore legitimacy, implement the road map and release Cpl. Gilad Shalit, he would suggest a meeting with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to conduct a "true, open and serious" dialogue between us.
Olmert said that within this framework, and in line with the road map, the Palestinians could establish an independent, viable state with contiguous territory in the West Bank, and have full sovereignty over recognized borders.
He said that within this framework Israel's borders would be established that "would be different from the territory which is now under Israel's control."
Israel's right-wingers are having an ass-attack.
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