Fatah, Hamas to Resume Talks on Halting Attacks on Israeli Civilians

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 09, 2002

Fatah, Hamas to Resume Talks on Halting Attacks on Israeli Civilians

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) will renew dialogue regarding a halt to attacks against Israeli citizens within a few days, a senior Palestinian official announced on Sunday.

Nabil Shaath, Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, told reporters in Gaza thatthe Fatah-Hamas talks are expected to take place firstly in the Gaza Strip and then the two delegations would meet again in Cairo, Egypt.

Fatah representatives are expected to renew their demand to stopattacks against Israeli civilians, as the first step toward a ceasefire.

Referring to killing Israeli civilians by suicide bombers in Israel, Shaath defined a "civilian" as someone who is not armed, including those living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

This step would allow Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian-controlled territory, he noted.

The PNA minister added that Fatah representatives would also demand that Hamas agree to the establishment of a Palestinian statewithin the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as its capital.

Internal flare-up between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza threatens to undermine recent talks between the two groups on ending the wave ofsuicide bombings against Israel.

Arafat has repeatedly condemned such bombings, which have killedscores of Israelis this year.

He and other senior PLO officials are known to be concerned thatsuicide bombings are likely to have a hard-line influence on the Israeli electorate in the run-up to the general elections on next Jan. 28.

In order to solve the internal flare-up, Fatah and Hamas representatives held talks in Cairo before the start of Ramadan andagreed to resume their talks there again after the end of the Moslems holidays.

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