Cairo - Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is due to meet
Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak Monday for a new round of talks on
establishing a long-term ceasefire in Gaza.
His visit comes amid reports of a significant progress in
negotiations and Israeli threats of a 'fierce and disproportionate'
response to continued rocket fire on southern Israel from the Gaza
Strip.
Abbas had been scheduled to travel to the Czech Republic, but
postponed that trip at the last minute because of a 'breakthrough' in
Egyptian-mediated talks, Egyptian and Palestinian news agencies
quoted Abbas spokesman Nabil Shaath as saying Sunday.
Shaath did not elaborate, but on Sunday evening the Arabic
satellite news channel al-Arabiya reported that Hamas had accepted an
Egyptian plan for a truce. A Hamas delegation is also expected in
Cairo for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials on Monday.
Israel has stressed that it is not negotiating with Hamas, but
with Egypt and the international community. Israel and militants in
the Gaza Strip have continued trading fire since Israel and Hamas
declared unilateral ceasefires on January 18.
On Sunday night, Israeli warplanes bombed a corridor along the
Egyptian-Gazan border and a Hamas-run police station. Earlier on
Sunday, militants in Gaza fired eight makeshift rockets into southern
Israel.
Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, acting
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised a 'fierce and
disproportionate response' to Hamas rocket attacks.
'We will act according to new rules which will ensure that we are
not dragged into an endless shooting war along the southern border,'
Olmert said.
Egypt has been mediating talks between the Israelis and
Palestinians on one hand, and rival Palestinian factions Hamas and
Fatah on the other.
In recent days, representatives of Hamas and Fatah have exchanged
bitter recriminations over who should represent the Palestinian
people.
Visiting a Cairo hospital where Palestinians wounded in the
fighting were being treated Sunday, Abbas accused Hamas of 'taking
risks with the blood of Palestinians, with their fate, and dreams and
aspirations for an independent Palestinian state.'
Hamas has called for a new Palestinian coalition to replace the
Palestine Liberation Organisation, saying that it no longer
represents the Palestinian people.
Speaking to reporters in Cairo on Sunday, Abbas swore there would
be 'no dialogue with those who reject the Palestine Liberation
Organisation.'
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