ARABS-ISRAEL - June 6 - Hamas Breaks Off Talks On Ceasefire.

Hamas says in a statement that it has broken off ceasefire talks and rejected a call for an end to the armed struggle for statehood by PM Mahmoud Abbas. (The statement is a setback following the June 4 summit meeting of PM Abbas, PM Sharon and US Pres. Bush, when they pledged to implement the "road map" leading to a Palestinian state by 2005. Israel has demanded an armed crackdown on militants as condition of further progress). Hamas says Abbas made unacceptable promises in Aqaba, including the end to armed resistance. Senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Al Rantissi said: "The dialogue has ended. Let Abu Mazen use whatever force he wishes against the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people will never cede an inch of their land". Analysts say Abbas is to continue to stress to the Hamas leadership and other armed groups that internal Palestinian conflict must be avoided. Meanwhile, Arafat echoed the views of many Palestinians when he said on June 5 that Israel had failed to offer anything "tangible". The road map calls for a freeze in Jewish settlement activity in the occupied territories as well as an end to violence and the confiscation of illegal weapons. But Sharon has only offered to dismantle small "unauthorised" outposts that often only consist of a few caravans. Sharon, who faces implacable opposition from his right-wing coalition partners to a two-state solution, has said he is in favour of only a demilitarised Palestinian state including only 42% of the West Bank. The US has yet to press Sharon for a settlement freeze and said it will address Israeli reservations to the road map, including a demand that the Palestinians give up the right of refugees from the 1948 war to return to what is now Israel. Militant groups such as Hamas are demanding an end to Israeli "targeted assassinations" of its members and a military withdrawal from PA-ruled towns and villages.