GAZA CITY, Jan 23 (AFP) - The radical Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad said Sunday it would not agree to any ceasefire without an Israeli agreement to release prisoners and end its military operatons.
"At this moment, we have not agreed to a hudna (truce). This issue is related to the approval by Israel of the conditions of the Palestinian people and the ball is now in Israel's court," Khaled al-Batsh, one of the movement's leaders in Gaza, said in a statement.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had earlier said that new Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas had persuaded Jihad and the larger Hamas movement to agree to a halt to their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.
But Batsh said any such agreement was conditional on "the release of the prisoners, and an end to the assassinations and incursions" and accused Mofaz of "trying to make problems between Jihad and Abu Mazen (Abbas)."
Hamas has also denied it has reached any such agreement with Abbas, who has trying to persuade the factions to lay down their weapons during talks in their Gaza stronghold since last Tuesday.
01/23/2005 09:09 GMT - AFP