Palestinian Officials: Hamas Truce Soon

Palestinian officials said Monday they expect a positive response from Hamas on a truce with Israel soon, perhaps even by the end of the day, and Egyptian diplomatic sources said an announcement would be made in Cairo.

Leaders of the Islamic militant group shut off their phones or declined comment.

A truce is crucial for implementing a U.S.-backed peace plan, the “road map” to Palestinian statehood by 2005. In the first stage, the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups, while Israel must gradually withdraw to positions held before the outbreak of fighting 33 months ago.

But lulls in violence and cease-fire efforts have been scuttled repeatedly in the past, both by Hamas carrying out attacks and Israel carrying out targeted killings of militants.

Israel has said this time that it would accept a truce, but only as a brief precursor to a crackdown on Hamas by Palestinian security forces. However, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not use force against the militants, for fear of sparking a civil war.

A Palestinian source involved in the truce talks said Monday that a final draft of the cease-fire proposal has been sent to Khaled Mashal, a top Hamas leader in Damascus.

The draft does not specify the duration of the truce, and this will be left to Egyptian mediators to determine, the source said. The document states that the armed groups are willing to give Abbas a chance to reach an agreement with the Israelis, according to the source.

The truce agreement was drawn up by Marwan Barghouti, a jailed Palestinian uprising leader, in his Israeli prison cell, said the source. Barghouti has been in close touch with Mashal through intermediaries, while Egypt has supervised the negotiations.

Egyptian diplomatic sources said Mashal was heading to Cairo later Monday or Tuesday, and that he would be accompanied by Ramadan Shalah, leader of the smaller Islamic Jihad group.

Several Palestinian Authority officials expressed optimism.

“Hamas told us they would give us an answer on Monday so we expect an answer today, and we expect it to be a positive one,” said Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, adding that they also expected “to get assurances about Israel’s obligations not to carry out any attacks hopefully today as well.”

Two other top officials, Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and adviser Sufian Abu Zaideh, also said that the direction was positive.

The Palestinian source said Hamas would relay its response to Egypt within 48 hours, and that a formal announcement was expected by Thursday in Cairo. Egypt has been trying for several months to try to persuade the armed groups to halt attacks on Israelis.

A key sticking point has been Israel’s refusal to date to halt targeted killings of wanted Palestinians. Israel says it reserves the right to go after “ticking bombs,” but uses a broad definition that includes not only assailants about to carry out attacks, but also those who send them.

Over the weekend, Israeli troops killed a local Hamas leader in Hebron, Abdullah Kawasme, whom Israel blames for the deaths of 52 Israelis in recent shootings and bombings.

Hamas and the other militias want Israel to promise that it will halt all military strikes following a cease-fire. Egyptian mediators have been trying to obtain an Israeli guarantee, and have asked the United States for help. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is in the region, has said Israel has the right to stop “ticking bombs,” but rejects Israel’s broader definition.

In the first stage of the peace plan, the Palestinians must dismantle militias, while Israel must gradually withdraw to positions it held before the outbreak of fighting 33 months ago.

Once Israeli troops pull back, Palestinian security forces are expected to take over and prevent attacks on Israelis from the areas they have taken back. Palestinian officials have said they don’t want to assume security responsibility until they’ve reached a truce deal with Hamas.

Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad, who has been negotiating the terms of a Gaza pullback with Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan, said that after an Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian security forces would have a grace period of about a month, implying that there would be no major Israeli military strikes during that time.

“If they (the security forces) need a few weeks, three or four weeks, to get organized, and those three or four weeks are achieved by some sort of agreement between them and who ever they want, this does not interest us,” Gilad told Israel Radio, referring to the talks between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority on halting attacks on Israelis.

However, Gilad said a longer-term deal between Hamas and the Palestinian government is a “threat to peace,” because it would allow Hamas to reorganize and violate the deal anytime it likes.

It was not clear what Israel might do if attacks end but Abbas does not disarm the militants, as he is required under the road map.

Late Monday, four Palestinian militants were killed in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, apparently when a bomb they were planting exploded in northern Gaza. The four were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia linked to the ruling Fatah movement of Abbas and Yasser Arafat.

Referring to the four militants, Powell said Monday that “we cannot let a few individuals, and these really are just a few individuals, keep us from moving forward.”

Israeli forces have maintained a presence near Beit Hanoun for several weeks, trying to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets at a nearby Israeli town.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, told his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel could build inside existing settlements as long as it keeps quiet about it, despite a road map clause to the contrary. Sharon aide Raanan Gissin said that despite the road map language about freezing “all settlement activity including natural growth of settlements,” Israel had an “understanding with the Americans that inside the settlements, for the day to day needs, we can build.”

About 220,000 Israelis live in about 150 West Bank and Gaza settlements authorized over the decades by successive Israeli governments. In addition, settlers have put up dozens of tiny, unauthorized outposts, many of them vacant. The road map says they must be removed.

However, Sharon told his Cabinet that some of the outposts Israel is required to dismantle are necessary for security.