Palestinian factions hold truce talks
No Hamas leader is immune to attacks, says Olmert
Afp, ap, Cairo/ Jerusalem
Egyptian officials met members of the secular Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas yesterday, the first in a series of talks with rival factions aimed at cementing a fragile truce in Gaza, the official MENA agency reported. "The talks with the Palestinian faction leaders began formally today on Sunday in Cairo with representatives of the Fatah party," MENA quoted an "informed source" as saying. "The talks will then continue with the other factions, each separately, in order to assess the views of each faction as to ending the infighting, and the possibility of reaching a comprehensive truce with Israel," the source said. General Borhan Hamad, heading the Egyptian team, was also to meet representatives of the Islamist movement Hamas which shares power with Fatah in a Palestinian unity government. The Fatah delegation includes deputy premier Azzam al-Ahmed, former parliament speaker Rawhi Fattuh, and Abbas's national security adviser Mohammed Dahlan, MENA reported. The delegation was also due to meet Arab League chief Amr Mussa, the state-owned Al-Messa reported. On Saturday, MENA said the talks were part of Cairo's "intensive efforts to stabilise the truce and end Palestinian infighting". There was no intention "to hold a meeting bringing all the factions around one table." Clashes between supporters of Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip killed more than 40 people in less than a week, before a ceasefire was agreed by the two factions on May 16. Egyptian security officials are also due to hold talks with representatives of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday promised to step up attacks on the Hamas militant group after a Palestinian rocket attack killed an Israeli man in southern Israel. "No one is immune," Olmert declared. Sunday's bloodshed signaled there was no end in sight for the latest round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. A 10-day campaign of Israeli airstrikes aimed at halting rocket attacks has killed nearly 50 Palestinians, most of them militants. But the rocket fire has continued. Another rocket slammed into the southern Israeli town of Sderot early Sunday, critically wounding a 36-year-old man with shrapnel, medical officials said. The man later died of his wounds at a hospital, Israeli media said. It was the second fatal rocket attack in less than a week. Olmert told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet Sunday that he had instructed the army to do whatever it takes to halt the rocket fire.
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