New danger to Mid-East truce

THE Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad warned on Sunday that they would end a truce with Israel if the Palestinian Authority went ahead with what they called a campaign to disarm them.

The groups announced the halt on attacks in Israel last month, as part of a US-backed peace plan which has also seen Israeli troops withdraw from some Palestinian areas and transfer security control to Palestinian forces.

“The Palestinian security forces decided to start a campaign aimed to disarm the resistance ... We warn that such an act ... will make us think seriously of going back on our initiative of halting the military attacks against Israel,” the two militant groups said in a joint statement faxed to Reuters.