JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Two major Palestinian armed opposition groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said they would suspend Resistance attacks against Israel until further notice, boosting hopes of ending 15 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. (Read photo caption below)
Their show of solidarity on Friday was designed to halt increasingly bloody fighting between the armed groups and Palestinian police in the wake of a crackdown by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to stop attacks on Israel.
At least six people were killed and more than 80 wounded in a gun battle between the groups and Palestinian police in Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, hospital officials said.
Arafat has faced tough Israeli military action and pressure from the United States and other key international players to rein in the armed opposition groups behind a recent wave of Resistance bombings against the Jewish state that killed 29 people.
Israel remained wary. When Hamas announced its decision, Israeli officials dismissed it as a ploy to ease pressure on Arafat.
``This is a tactical move by Hamas which is a terrorist organization,'' said Gideon Meir, a senior Foreign Ministry official. ``I think there is an agreement, a silent agreement to postpone the crackdown for a while.''
A senior Islamic Jihad member said the group had decided to suspend Resistance attacks against Israel temporarily until it worked out whether to halt them for a longer period.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A senior leader in the Hamas organization, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, talks to reporters at his house in Gaza Strip December 21, 2001. The militant Islamic organization Hamas said on Friday it was suspending suicide attacks in Israel after President Yasser Arafat's campaign to crack down on the movement touched off clashes between Palestinians. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)