Palestinian political parties and resistance groups opened talks on national unity and a possible truce with Israel, as the Islamic resistance group Hamas claimed to have ambushed and killed three Israeli occupation soldiers in the West Bank, a Hamas official said. The much-anticipated talks were being attended by Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, who has mediated between the Palestinians and Israel several times since the September 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.

Hamas delegation chief Osama Hamdan told AFP the initial session would bring together Suleiman and the chiefs of delegation. That inaugural session would be followed by another meeting including all the delegates.

Twelve Palestinian groups were to participate, including Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, whose delegation is led by Palestine Liberation Organisation second-in-command Mahmud Abbas.

The talks have been organised by Egypt and the parties themselves with help from EU negotiators, and Cairo hopes they will lead to a Palestinian agreement to halt anti-Israeli attacks for a year.

Just hours before the meeting started, six people were killed in renewed Israeli-Palestinian violence, three on either side.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters killed the occupation soldiers in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.

"We should not rush to conclusions and say that this operation undermines the talks because no agreement has been reached and therefore the attack does not violate any agreement," Hamdan said earlier.

"The operation was in no way linked to the dialogue. It is linked to a reality on the ground: the Israeli occupation and the (Hamas) movement's decision to pursue its struggle against occupation," he added.

Hamas and two other resistance Palestinian groups, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad, have already refused to abandon attacks on Israel in statements issued Thursday.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said Cairo invited all parties to meet "to strengthen the chances of launching serious negotiations which could reduce the violence".

The dialogue aims "to draw up a united Palestinian platform, which could help launch a negotiating process leading to an accord between the two parties for a total halt to violence", he added.

Egypt is proposing a one-year freeze on anti-Israeli operations to allow the peace process to resume based on an internationally backed "roadmap", according to a copy obtained by AFP of an Egyptian document to be submitted to the Cairo delegates.

For Egypt, the main aim is to reach a "moratorium" on resistance attacks which kill Israeli civilians and cause international damage to the Palestinian cause, according to Egyptian analysts.

The roadmap to Middle East peace was drawn up by the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States, and it provides for a Palestinian state to be established by 2005.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was to attend the first session of talks as a sign of Cairo's determination to help the 12 groups reach a common position.

A source close to the talks said they would go on as long as necessary.

He stressed that the presence of Suleiman, who has carried out several mediation bids between Israel and the Palestinians since the start of the intifada in September 2000, did not signal Egyptian pressure.

"The Palestinians will be the sole judges of their own interests and Egypt is only offering its experience as well as a platform for common understanding," the source said on condition of anonymity.

PHOTO CAPTION

Osama Hamdan, Hamas delegation chief to the Cairo Palestinian National Unit