GAZA: Rival Palestinian factions agree to implement ceasefire

Senior officials from rival Fatah and Hamas factions agreed on Saturday (February 3), to immediately pull their gunmen off the streets of Gaza and halt bloodshed which has killed 23 Palestinians in the last three days. It was not immediately clear if the agreement, announced by Interior Minister Saed Seyam of Hamas after talks with a top Fatah security official, could take hold in Gaza, where sporadic gunfire continued as the two sides were talking. The internecine conflict has brought the coastal strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, to a near-standstill and increased pressure on the "quartet" of peace brokers -- the United States, UN, EU and Russia -- to make a fresh effort to revive Middle East peace talks. Seyam said he and Rashid Abu Shbak of Fatah agreed "an immediate ceasefire, removing gunmen from the streets and rooftops of buildings and removing all the checkpoints". Police would also deploy to restore law and order on the streets, he said, replacing rival security forces which were facing off across Gaza. Successive previous ceasefire deals have broken down in renewed fighting. Eight people were wounded in gunbattles on Saturday. Residents said clashes appeared to ease during the day, but the two sides were still abducting rivals at checkpoints. Schools and shops were closed in Gaza City and residents near the two universities sheltered indoors to escape gunfire. Earlier Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh who heads the Hamas-led government said truce agreements are useless if no one obeys by them. "Enough with agreements and statements when the situation on the ground stays the same. From here I reiterate my call to the people of Palestine, to all our brothers on the Palestinian territories to have a ceasefire immediately and I call on all gunmen to withdraw from the streets and all the security forces to go back to their positions and strongholds," Haniyeh told reporters at his home in Gaza City. More than 80 Palestinians have been killed in fighting since talks on a Palestinian unity government broke down in December and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called for early elections, a step the governing Hamas movement condemned as a coup.

ITN Source | February 4, 2007

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