Terror groups declare limited ceasefire

Palestinian groups declared a limited ceasefire with Israel, and Israeli tanks and troops pulled out of a part of the Gaza Strip, boosting chances for a US-backed Middle East peace plan.

Yesterday, Islamic groups called a three-month cease-fire, and the mainstream Fatah followed with a six-month truce declaration.

But Israeli officials were sceptical of a breakthrough toward settling the conflict that has bloodied and battered both sides for nearly three years.

Israel was not a party to the truce and refused to guarantee that it would stop its military operations against Palestinian militants, while demanding that the very groups declaring the truce be dismantled and disarmed.

The Palestinian statements, meanwhile, were couched in terms that clearly laid the blame for the violence on Israel, demanding that Israel stop attacks, lift roadblocks and release prisoners.

The US offered qualified support. “Anything that reduces violence is a step in the right direction,” White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee said.

“Under the ‘road map’, parties have an obligation to dismantle terrorist infrastructure. There is still more work to be done.”

The first test of the truce may well be Beit Hanoun, a town in the north east corner of Gaza.

Israeli troops have moved in and out so many times that their invasions have become routine, as they try to stop Palestinian militants from firing home-made rockets over the fence at the Israeli town of Sderot, less than a mile away.

Carrying out a security agreement brokered by senior US envoy John Wolf, Israeli forces withdrew from Beit Hanoun after sundown yesterday, and Palestinian police were poised nearby to move in and take their places.

As the last tanks pulled out of town, two young boys emerged from a house and planted a Palestinian flag in the sand.

Under the security arrangement, part of the first phase of the road map peace plan, Palestinian police take responsibility for security in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

To Israel, that means preventing attacks, including rocket and mortar salvos.

The three-stage, three-year plan starts with an end to all violence by both sides at the outset of the first phase.

Israel is to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza and pull its troops back to positions they held before the violence erupted, while Palestinians take measures to rein in the militants.

The plan leads to a Palestinian state in 2005.

It appeared to be no coincidence that the handover of Beit Hanoun came just hours after the three main Palestinian groups declared a temporary halt in attacks against Israelis.

Rejecting Israeli and US demands for a crackdown to disarm the militants, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has said he would bring about the end of violence by agreement.