Egypt opened talks on Thursday with Hamas and Islamic Jihad on a truce between the Palestinian movements and Israel, officials in the groups said. According to Reuters, the talks were launched in El Arish.
Hamas sources said one of the group's senior leaders, Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, was heading its delegation in El Arish. Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader, said the group dispatched a team to the Egyptian city for "talks about calm."
"The conditions are clear, the Zionist enemy must end all forms of aggression against our people in Gaza and the West Bank and lift the siege on Gaza," he told Reuters.
On Wednesday, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that his country would have no need to carry out attacks in Gaza Strip if Palestinians stopped firing rockets across the border. "If there is no Qassam fire on Israel, there will be no Israeli attack on Gaza" Olmert said according to the evening bulletin of the Israeli radio.
