Talks opened Friday evening in Cairo between Palestinian factions on an Egyptian proposal to end attacks inside Israel.
Earlier in the day, Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said Palestinians would never give up their right to self-defense. He said Hamas chose to use suicide bombings as a tactic in the Palestinian struggle for independence because "you always look for your enemy's weak points...and that is your weak spot," he told an Israeli reporter.
On Thursday, the armed offshoot of Fatah movement also rejected the idea of a unilateral ceasefire and warned against "capitulation" to Israel.
"We condemn regional, local and international attempts to stop the Palestinian resistance and Intifada," the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said.
"The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Fatah fighters who raise their guns in the face of occupation soldiers and settler herds reiterate their vows of struggle and reiterate they are not committed to any agreements that try to undermine our right to escalate resistance," it said in a statement.
The talks in Cairo had been planned for Wednesday but were delayed because of a last-minute dispute about who would be invited. An Egyptian source said the talks could last three days or more.
The talks started amid growing Israeli threats to implement new steps in the Gaza Strip. Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Shaorn and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided Friday on a series of military operations in the areas of the northern Gaza Strip from where home-made Kassam rockets were fired Friday and in the past at the city of Sderot, Mofaz said, according to Israeli press reports.
According to the Israel Radio report, Mofaz also said that the operations will strike a serious blow to "the terror infrastruture" in the area. (Albawaba.com)
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