Abbas envoy in Gaza for talks Israel, Hamas agree to truce.

By combined news Israel agreed to a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip with Hamas and sought to use the political momentum to start peace talks with Lebanon. Leaders of Hamas said they would stop rocket attacks on Israeli towns that neighbor Gaza, while Israel agreed to stop military attacks and ease its economic blockade.The truce was first reported Tuesday afternoon by Egyptian state media, and was later confirmed by a Hamas official in Gaza.Previous ceasefire attempts in Gaza have failed. In late 2006, Israel reached a truce deal with the Palestinian Authority, but the calm was short-lived, as Israeli incursions into Gaza and the West Bank continued.Israeli officials said the final details needed to be ironed out. They said IsraelCOs special envoy, Amos Gilad, had been unexpectedly dispatched to Cairo Tuesday afternoon for that purpose.C[pounds sterling]ThereCOll be a cessation of all hostile acts and military action on both sides starting 6am. Thursday Cairo time,C[yen] said Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry. Zaki said the cease-fire accord C[pounds sterling]is more of an understanding than an official agreement,C[yen] and was not a signed document. The Egyptian-mediated truce is scheduled to continue for an initial six months. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose popularity has suffered under serial corruption scandals during his two years in office, is trying to use the momentum created by the cease-fire to accelerate peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and broaden efforts at resolving the overall Arab-Israeli conflict. C[pounds sterling]We currently are conducting negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians and thereCOs no logical reason whatsoever why Israel and Lebanon should not be talking,C[yen] Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert, said Wednesday. For the Palestinians, the accord announced Tuesday would relax Israeli restrictions on the flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza, Zaki said. In return, Israel demanded an end to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and weapons smuggling through tunnels that connect Egypt and Gaza, as well as progress in efforts to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.C[pounds sterling]The Palestinians said they were open to talking about Shalit,C[yen] Zaki said, and C[pounds sterling]the Israelis promised to gradually relax the firm closure that they have imposed on the Gaza Strip for the past year.C[yen]Zaki said the talks included representatives of several Palestinian factions, including other armed groups in Gaza. If the cease-fire holds, its terms might next be applied in the West Bank, he said. Hamas had initially lobbied for the truce to apply to both Gaza and the West Bank, but Israel balked at that idea and limited negotiations to Gaza, officials said. Hamas has a significant following in the West Bank, but its rival, the moderate Fateh, holds sway there.C[pounds sterling]We have been able to secure a Palestinian position in support for this cease-fire,C[yen] Zaki said. C[pounds sterling]We think we were also able to get an Israeli position that welcomes the cease-fire and is ready to implement it. We hope both parties will honor the agreement.C[yen] Tarek Hassan, a member of EgyptCOs governing party and deputy chief of the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper, sat in on the negotiations. Hassan said the accord came in what is meant to be the first phase of negotiations, and covered only an ending of hostilities.All Palestinian groups, negotiating separately, agreed to cease firing rockets toward Israel, Hassan said, while Israel said it would stop all military action in Gaza. According to Hassan, both sides agreed that Israel would allow more fuel, food and other supplies into Gaza starting Sunday, if the cease-fire holds. Negotiations would also start Sunday about any exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in return for Shalit, Hassan said.Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, would not directly confirm the truce, but did not deny it. C[pounds sterling]The security Cabinet took a clear decision to support the Egyptian track,C[yen] Regev said, referring to an announcement earlier this month that Israel would continue with the negotiations. C[pounds sterling]Obviously, if this is going to be successful, weCOll need more than words. WeCOll need deeds.C[yen]Since Hamas took control of Gaza last June Israel has waged a near-daily campaign of attacks against Gaza Strip causing the death of many Palestinian civilians.On Tuesday six Palestinians were killed in three Israeli air strikes-targeting the Gaza Strip, according to medics and witnesses, and several others were wounded in an air raid near Qarara village, east of the southern town of Khan Yunis, Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, said. C[pounds sterling]The number of dead has risen to five and a number of civilians have been wounded in an Israeli air strike that targeted a civilian car in the Qarara area,C[yen] he said.The Israeli army confirmed carrying out air raids, saying that one attackCocarried out in southern GazaCodestroyed a blue Subaru. Another two Israeli air attacks in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah killed a sixth person and wounded five people, local-Palestinian hospital officials said.One of those killed in-TuesdayCOs Israeli-raids was Moataz Doghmush, a senior fighter in the Army of Islam, an armed faction believed to be linked to al-Qaeda, Hassanein said.In response, Palestinian fighters fired seven rockets into Israel, the Israeli military said. The exchange of fire came hours before Cairo announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement to take-effect on Thursday.At least 515 people have been killed since Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace negotiations at a conference in the US city of Annapolis in November, according to an AFP count.In the meantime an envoy of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has reached Gaza with the aim of holding reconciliation talks with Hamas.Hikmat Zeid, head of a three-member delegation, who arrived in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, said he had no objection to meeting GazaCOs Hamas representatives C[pounds sterling]if they ask for a meetingC[yen]. However, ZeidCOs delegation will not meet Hamas officials at this stage. C[pounds sterling]The Fateh delegationCOs agenda does not include any talks with Hamas,C[yen] a Fateh official told AFP.A Hamas official was also non-committal. C[pounds sterling]If they want to meet then we will meet them, in accordance with their request,C[yen]-a Hamas offical-told Reuters. Zeid said the delegation would hold talks with Fateh members and other representatives from allied factions within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).The discussions will center on-recent efforts by Abbas to hold reconciliation talks with Hamas. C[pounds sterling]We should focus our efforts on implementing the initiative in order to reach out for national unity to confront the dangers threatening the Palestinian cause,C[yen]-Zeid said, referring to a Hamas-Fateh mediation drive by Ali Abdallah Saleh, the Yemeni president, that has been stalled for months. Abbas called for reconciliation talks earlier this month, although he previously insisted that-Hamas give up control of Gaza before dialogue could begin.Officials from the two factions met in the West African country of Senegal later.Those talks restored C[pounds sterling]an atmosphere of trust and mutual respectC[yen], a joint Hamas-Fateh statement said.Zeid said Arab peace brokers were trying to organize a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo by the end of the month.Marwan Abdel Hamid, a Fateh delegate, said his faction preferred to meet Hamas along with other groups and not C[pounds sterling]bilaterallyC[yen].Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader in Gaza, last week voiced a preference for direct talks with Fateh. nAbbas envoy in Gaza for talks Israel, Hamas agree to truce

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