Palestinians making an effort, says Israel

ISRAEL yesterday welcomed a temporary truce declared by Palestinian militants and promised to hold its fire in return, but demanded that the Palestinian Authority eventually dismantle the armed groups.

The 13 main Palestinian militant groups announced on Thursday they would halt attacks on Israel for the rest of the year, so far the longest period of promised calm and a success for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Negotiating with the militants, rather than confronting them, is a cornerstone of Mr Abbas's policies. A ceasefire would also help Israel withdraw this summer from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements without the threat of Palestinian fire in what is expected to be a complicated operation accompanied by fierce Jewish settler resistance.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad the main groups that have waged a campaign of violence against Israel reserved the right to call an end to the ceasefire if Israel doesn't reciprocate. The declaration says the halt in violence is conditional on Israel ceasing all military operations against Palestinians and releasing all 8,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel's Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said Israel would refrain from military offensives to help make the shaky ceasefire a success. He noted Israel has already released some prisoners, and plans to release more, though authorities have said they would not release all inmates. Reiterating Israel's long-standing position, he said the militants must be disarmed at some point.

"Is it enough? Of course not," he told Israel Army Radio in response to Thursday's declaration. "Is the significance here that the Palestinian Authority is carrying out a war on terrorism? Definitely not. But they are certainly making an effort."

Highlighting the fragility of the truce, the Popular Resistance Committees a Gaza-based umbrella group responsible for blowing up three Israeli-made Merkava tanks and killing seven soldiers in three attacks in 2002 and 2003 said it would not abide by the ceasefire.

In June 2003, the Palestinian groups declared a unilateral three-month truce that collapsed after only six weeks.

This time, however, analysts say all the parties Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the militant factions, Egypt, Syria and Iran have an interest in making the truce stick. Iran has funded some of the Palestinian militants and Syria has hosted leaders of some of the armed groups.

Jordan's King Abdullah has proposed a new peace strategy that drops traditional Arab demands that Israel give up all land seized in the 1967 war and offers the Jewish state normalised relations with Arab countries.