Middle East leaders make truce pledge

Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip at Israel died down today after a ceasefire, giving hope the truce might end five months of bloody destruction and open a path towards peace talks.

The surprise truce came into effect at 6am local time (4am Irish time). Four hours later, 11 more rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israeli towns and villages, but Israel pledged restraint, and the two main parts of the Palestinian government, rivals Hamas and Fatah, publicly backed the truce.

By nightfall it appeared to be taking hold.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah ordered his security forces to patrol the Gaza border this afternoon to stop the rocket attacks.

“The instructions are clear. Anyone violating the national agreement will be considered to be breaking the law,” said Lietenant General Abdel Razek Mejaidie, Abbas’ security adviser.

Security officers fanned out across northern Gaza, taking up positions at major intersections with orders to stop anyone suspicious, and by this afternoon the salvos stopped.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said he had contacted the leaders of all the Palestinian factions and they reassured him they were committed to the truce.

Palestinian officials said that Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal, in Cairo for talks, played a role in speeding up the agreement.

The truce agreement, if it holds, would be a coup for Abbas, who has been trying for months to end the violence in Gaza that has killed 300 Palestinians, scores of them civilians. Five Israelis were also killed in the violence.

The ceasefire deal was forged last night when Abbas called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with an agreement from Palestinian militant groups to halt rocket fire and other violence emanating from Gaza.

Olmert pledged to end the military offensive Israel launched in Gaza in June after Hamas-linked militants from Gaza captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza ahead of this morning’s deadline. Dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles were parked just over the border in a military staging ground in southern Israel early today.

But Palestinian militants, including those from the ruling Hamas group, continued firing rockets into Israel throughout the morning.

“(We) reiterate that our attacks against the enemy continue,” Hamas militants said in a statement on their website claiming responsibility for several of the rocket attacks.

Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israel. However, after nightfall today, Islamic Jihad official Khaled al-Batch said his group was on board. ”We will respect this (national) agreement so long as Israel is committed,” he said.

Olmert ordered the army to show restraint in the face of the rockets.

“Even though there are still violations of the ceasefire by the Palestinian side, I have instructed our defence officials not to respond, to show restraint and to give this ceasefire a chance to take full effect,” he said during a ceremony at a school in southern Israel.

Tonight, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was hopeful. “It was clear from the beginning that when you say ’six in the morning,’ it will be difficult to get things started, but we have to give it a chance,” she told Israel TV.

In another optimistic sign, the Israeli army was to renew security co-ordination with Palestinian forces for the first time since the Hamas-led government took office in March, security officials said.

The goal is to stop militants from firing rockets, they said.

A ceasefire in Gaza is part of a broad package Abbas is trying to put together in the hope of restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in funding Western donors cut off to pressure Hamas to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

Livni underlined the need to follow the truce with diplomatic steps. “History teaches us that if this kind of ceasefire with the Palestinians isn’t accompanied by something else, it will deteriorate,” she said.