MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat said yesterday morning he expected an announcement that armed militias had agreed to a three-month cessation of attacks on Israel "in hours", but by last night it appeared that a formal declaration of the elusive truce would only be made over the weekend.
Despite talk of a ceasefire, violence continued. An Israeli telephone technician was shot dead in the morning by a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern Israeli Arab village of Baka al-Garbiyah, located close to the border with the West Bank.
The teenage attacker was shot as he fled by a security guard, and was then taken, in serious condition, to an Israeli hospital where he underwent surgery. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed militia associated with Mr Arafat's Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Toward evening, border police shot dead two Palestinians near the same village. Security officials said the two had infiltrated Israel from the West Bank, had bombs, and were planning to carry out suicide attacks.
Mr Arafat yesterday received a copy of the truce agreement, which was negotiated by Mr Marwan Barghouti - a charismatic figure in Fatah - from his prison cell in Israel where he faces terror charges. Acting on his orders, two of Mr Barghouti's Fatah colleagues recently travelled to Damascus where they met with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders on the conditions for a truce. The formal announcement of the "hudna" - the Islamic term for a temporary ceasefire - is expected to be made either on Saturday or Sunday, and will be issued in the territories as well as in Egypt, which has played a key role in mediating between the Palestinian Authority and the various armed factions.
Talking to reporters in Ramallah after his meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, the Palestinian president said a truce "was not determined officially, but we are waiting for it to be announced in the next few hours". But Dr Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior member of the radical Hamas group in Gaza, said that while his organisation had completed its deliberations on a ceasefire, a formal announcement would still take a few days.
Both Israel and the United States have reacted sceptically to the idea of a temporary truce, insisting it is not a substitute for dismantling Hamas and other armed groups, as the road map peace plan requires. Israel fears the militias will use the hiatus to regroup and plan new attacks.
The armed Palestinian groups, however, appear to have agreed to a truce without a firm guarantee from Israel to end the targeting of militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But Hamas officials said the emerging agreement did not require them to disarm. The issue will be on the table during the visit over the weekend of US National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleeza Rice, who will meet leaders on both sides.