Hamas notifies Egypt approval of conditional truce; Qrei government next week
The Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Qrei has announced that President Yasser Arafat assigned him to form the new government and that he accepted the authorization. He said he will complete the formation of this government and submitting it to the legislative council for ratification next week.
In a statement following the convening of the last sessions of the emergency government whose term of office expired yesterday, Qrei explained he will ask the council to convene a meeting today or tomorrow to set a date for ratifying his government, despite his continued difference with Arafat over the post of the minister of the interior.
Nabil Abu Rudinah, Arafat's advisor said that the latter asked Qrei to continue running the works of the emergency government until a new government is formed and wins the confidence of the legislative council.
For his part, the Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said in conclusion of Madrid's meeting with the Palestinian ambassadors accredited to the European states that the new Palestinian government will try to reach immediately a cease fire with Israel.
To this effect, Israel's defense minister Shaoul Mofaz said he had held talks with Palestinian sides, without specifying these individuals, noting that more Palestinian- Israeli talks will be held following Qrei's formation of his government.
Meantime, news reports said that the Islamic resistance movement Hamas notified Egypt its conditions to accept a truce with Israel.
Palestinian sources said that member of the political bureau of the Hamas movement Mousa Abu Marzouk has recently visited Cairo where he informed the director of the Egyptian intelligence Lt. Gen. Omar Suliman the movement's readiness to abide by a cease fire if Israel openly abides by halting all forms of aggression against the Palestinian people including assassination, incursion and houses destruction operations." News reports also said that Hamas is calling for international guarantees for such an agreement.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted between the occupation forces and Palestinians in Balatah camp in Nablus when the Israeli occupation authorities tried to bulldoze one road in the camp. Two Palestinians and one Swedish volunteer were wounded by the Israeli soldiers bullets to disperse the citizens who threw stones at the bulldozers and the tanks.
Palestinian medical sources said that one of the wounded is a 13 year old child who was hit in the shoulder.
In another development, the occupation forces said in a statement that an activist in the Islamic Jihad Movement, chased by it had surrendered himself to the Israeli military.
The statement explained that Tareq Ahmad Karim Hassan who is accused by the army of being involved in an attack resulted in killing one Israeli woman in June surrendered himself at a military check point in Qalqilya to the north of the West Bank.