Palestinian groups agree to truce talks next month

JERUSALEM - Thirteen Palestinian factions, including major militant groups, have agreed to attend truce talks in Cairo next month, and Palestinian officials said Thursday they expect the conference to be successful - provided Israel agrees to halt military operations.

A truce is key to reviving the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which was endorsed Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia wants the groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to agree to halt attacks. He would then ask Israel to join a truce, an offer Israel might find hard to reject despite misgivings.

Israel has insisted the Palestinians dismantle militant groups, as required by the road map, and it fears accepting a truce without a crackdown, as the Palestinians propose, will only allow the armed groups to recover from Israeli strikes.

However, Israel has signaled in recent days that it is softening its position. Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Thursday Israel would take reciprocal steps if the Palestinians stop their attacks.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said "the key here is reciprocity."

Erekat noted that the road map requires both sides to declare that they are halting violence. "If the Egyptians succeed in producing this from the Palestinians, it is up to the Americans and the Quartet (of Mideast mediators) to get the Israelis to do the same," he said.

On Thursday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an armed Palestinian crawling toward a fence surrounding the isolated Jewish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza, the military said.

The area around the settlement is off limits to Palestinians and in recent weeks, soldiers have fired several times on Palestinians.

Egyptian mediators met with representatives of the 13 disparate Palestinian factions in Gaza on Wednesday and Thursday, and Qureia said agreement was reached for a week of truce talks in Cairo, beginning Dec. 2.

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