2 Militant Groups Announce Mideast Truce

The militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups announced Sunday that they are suspending attacks against Israel for three months.

The timing of the announcement came as a surprise, after Palestinian officials said the declaration would be delayed at least until Monday because of political infighting in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, a partner in the three-way deal.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad apparently did not want to wait for Fatah to resolve its internal disagreements. In response to the announcement by the militants, Fatah officials said they were still not ready to join the declaration.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, read the truce announcement in a phone call to The Associated Press. “The two movements (Hamas and Islamic Jihad) decided to suspend military operations against the Zionist enemy for three months, starting today,” Rantisi said.

Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi also confirmed that the truce took effect Sunday.

“This is a joint declaration between Islamic Jihad and Hamas and I think our brothers in Fatah are going to declare their position soon,” al-Hindi told AP.

Rantisi reiterated a list of demands – although not preconditions – for the suspension of attacks. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have said they want Israel to halt all military strikes, including targeted killings of wanted militants. The groups also seek a release of Palestinian prisoners.

“We consider ourselves free from this initiative if the Israeli enemy does not implement all the conditions,” said Rantisi, who was the target of a recent Israeli attack.