Arafat says Palestinian ceasefire is test for Israel

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 04, 2003

Arafat says Palestinian ceasefire is test for Israel

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday called on Palestinian groups to reach a ceasefire with Israel, terming the move as a test for the Jewish state's sincerity for peace.

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday called on Palestinian groups to reach a ceasefire with Israel, terming the move as a test for the Jewish state's sincerity for peace.

"Arafat made the appeal in a message sent to the groups, which would kick off a new round of talks in Cairo to discuss the possibility of reaching a new truce with Israel," a high-ranking official of the mainstream Fatah movement told Xinhua.

"It is imperative to focus on the ceasefire, not on anything else which would affect the dialogue," the official, who asked notto be named, quoted Arafat as saying in the message.

"Arafat stressed that reaching a truce will show to the whole world that the Palestinians desire for peace, and the Israeli sideis in turn required to respond to it (ceasefire)," the officialsaid.

"If the talks fail to reach a truce deal, the Israeli governmen twill be given a chance to continue its policy of killing, assassination and destruction," the official said.

According to the official, representatives of most of the total 13 Palestinian groups have arrived in the Egyptian capital, and the rest would come Thursday morning.

Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the talks, the official said.

Arafat, who chairs the Fatah movement, weighed his influence one day ahead of the talks, a move which could be seen as a sign fromthe Palestinian leadership to achieve progress under changing circumstances.

"A new atmosphere is coming to the area," Mohamed Sobeih, Palestine's permanent representative to the Arab League, told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday.

"We have a new cabinet, ... There are a lot of changes inside Israeli society," he said, referring to mounting criticism Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faces at home and abroad.

The UN Security Council in late November unanimously approved a Russian-sponsored resolution to formally adopt the roadmap as the means of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"We intend to use this opportunity to convince Israeli society that we are again ready for peace and we are going to sign another ceasefire agreement," said Sobeih.

According to Palestinian sources, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei is expected to take part in the last two days of the talks to press for tangible results.

Under Egyptian mediation, Palestinian militant groups agreed in late June to suspend their anti-Israel attacks for three months.

But the unilateral ceasefire collapsed following Israel's killing of Abu Shanab, a senior official of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in late August.

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