 Hamas promised on Saturday to maintain a de facto truce and, in a major policy change, not to retaliate immediately for any Israeli violence while it weighs Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's ceasefire with Israel. "Hamas's position regarding calm will continue unchanged and Israel will bear responsibility for any new violation or aggression," Ismail Haniyah, a senior leader of the militant group, told Reuters after talks with Abbas. | "And Rooters will continue to report my words uncritically..." |
But in a new understanding with Abbas, Mahmoud al-Zahar, another Hamas leader, said the group would consult with the Palestinian Authority before responding to Israeli military action that fell short of "incursions and assassinations." The arrangement appeared to be aimed at preventing the kind of eruption of violence that occurred on Thursday when Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group launched mortar and rocket barrages at Jewish settlements in Gaza after troops killed a Palestinian. Abbas told Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group, which also agreed to the deal, that "no faction should be allowed to respond on its own to any Israeli violation," a Palestinian official said. | And it's driving the hard boyz crazy. No gun sex for weeks now! |
Both groups, which had largely abided by a de facto truce over the past several weeks, said they needed more consultations before reaching a final decision on the ceasefire he brokered with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a summit on Tuesday. |