Israel and Hamas find an unofficial 'truce'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed the army to reduce airstrikes and raids into the Gaza Strip in response to a recent drop in rocket fire from the territory.

Defence officials and the Hamas rulers of Gaza said there was no formal truce in place. But Mr Olmert’s office said he had ordered the army to rein in its operations to allow Egypt to proceed in mediation talks.

Heavy violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel has hampered peace talks between Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership of the West Bank. Mr Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have set a December target for reaching a final peace deal.

Mr Olmert said today that the fighting in Gaza, along with a shooting that killed eight young Jewish students at a Jerusalem religious college last week, are aimed at undermining the peace efforts.

“Their purpose is to divert us from a path of peace,” Mr Olmert said. “There’s no chance that they will succeed.”

Despite the violence, he added, Israel is prepared to take a “significant, important and dramatic step” to advance peace. “We will not give up on this effort,” he said.

Mr Abbas briefly called off negotiations last week in response to an Israeli military operation in Gaza in which more than 120 Palestinians were killed, including dozens of civilians. Two soldiers and an Israeli civilian also were killed in the fighting.

The offensive was launched in response to intense Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Since the lull, there have been no serious Israeli casualties caused by rocket fire, though Palestinian militants killed two Israeli soldiers last Thursday in a roadside bomb along the Gaza border.

With US backing, Egypt has been trying to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas. Officials from both sides have travelled to Egypt in recent days to discuss the matter.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said today that no comprehensive cease-fire had been reached. But Hamas officials have said in recent days that Hamas will stop if Israel halts its military operations .

While an informal truce already appeared to be in effect, Mr Olmert said no arrangement had been made.

“There is no agreement. There are no negotiations, not directly and not indirectly,” he said.

“We don’t know if Egypt reached any agreement with Hamas. In any case, it hasn’t received a mandate from us to do so”.

Hamas officials said their leaders would talk to Egypt in the next day or two to continue the efforts to work out a deal.

Hamas seized control of Gaza last June from Mr Abbas’ forces. Since then, Israel has concentrated peace efforts on him while battling Hamas in Gaza both through military operations and an economic blockade on the area.

The cease-fire efforts reflect the growing recognition of Hamas’ ability to upset the peace talks.

Meanwhile today Israel lifted a closure on areas of eastern Jerusalem that it imposed last week after the shooting at the Jewish religious school.

But in another possible complication for peace efforts, Israeli officials said 400 new homes would be build in the Neve Yaakov neighbourhood of disputed east Jerusalem. The plan is awaiting approval of a planning committee.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US has raised the issue with Israel and has expressed “some concern about this.”

Yesterday Israel said it would build 350 apartments in a West Bank settlement, and 750 homes in another east Jerusalem neighbourhood.

The plans drew condemnations from the Palestinians, who hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of a future independent state.

Meanwhile it was announced today that US Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to the region on Sunday to meet leaders on “issues of mutual interest”.