Palestinian factions meet in Cairo today for a new round of talks. But, as Amira Howeidy finds out, not everyone has the same agenda Ten months after their last meeting in Cairo, delegates representing 12 Palestinian factions will be resuming a complex series of talks in the Egyptian capital today, discussing a spectrum of thorny political and security issues. Egyptian officials said the talks are meant to discuss a truce that should pave the way for a resumption of the currently suspended road map peace plan. Israel is calling the meeting the "Hudna-2 ceasefire talks", while Fatah (Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's faction) wants the first item on the table to be a bilateral cease-fire agreement, according to Fatah official Samir El-Meshharawi. Delegates representing the main factions leading the armed resistance ñ including Hamas, Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) ñ are far less optimistic about the truce's chances of success. "We said that this is not the right time to talk about a truce," said Osama Hemdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon. Hemdan told Al-Ahram Weekly by telephone that, "we tried a ceasefire before, and the occupation pursued its aggression anyway. We need to set the [Palestinian] cause's priorities first." Hemdan argued that the situation on the ground is very different from the one that resulted in a brief truce last June. "Today, we have to combat the Israeli aggression that is raiding our towns and killing our women and children. Look at what happened in Ramallah." Earlier this week, Israel killed seven Palestinians, including a 9-year old boy, in an escalation many observers interpreted as an attempt to abort the Cairo talks. "A truce seems very unlikely," Hemdan said. Fahd Sulieman, who is heading the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's (DFLP) delegation, told the Weekly that, "it is improper to use the word ceasefire [at this stage], because it is redundant." According to Palestinian Ambassador in Cairo, Mohamed Sobeih, however, "mediators or friends who are helping from the Arab side" might be successful in getting American backing regarding a mutual ceasefire. Because both Egyptian and Palestinian officials refuse to disclose the official agenda, it is unclear whether a truce will actually be reached. The previous hudna -- a unilateral ceasefire committed to by Hamas and Jihad on 29 June, ended up dead in the water when Israel assassinated Ismail Abu Shanab, a leading figure in Hamas's political bureau, and his two body guards, on 21 August. Egypt's efforts to gather the main Palestinian factions together for the first time in 20 years began in November 2002. That was also the first time that a high-level Egyptian official -- Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman -- opened a direct dialogue with Hamas and Jihad. The factions met in the Egyptian capital last January with the objective of discussing a ceasefire and attempting to establish a unified Palestinian leadership. Shrouded in secrecy, that round of talks ended up failing. The delegations were supposed to issue a communiqu� at the end of the talks, but disagreement over several key issues -- mainly between both Hamas and Jihad on one hand and Fatah on the other -- thwarted the endeavour. They disagreed on whether or not the PLO was the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, whether or not to declare a unilateral cease-fire, and how to define the borders of a future Palestinian state. Led by Sulieman, an Egyptian delegation resumed bilateral talks with the factions in Gaza and the West Bank last month. Asked if the Egyptians had come up with an official working paper for this round of talks, Sobeih declined to comment. He did concede, however, that there are "Egyptian ideas� which contain nothing new. The ideas [that will be presented] are the same, but they need an Israeli commitment." Today's Cairo meeting was preceded by a series of unofficial Palestinian-Israeli meetings in London and Madrid. On 1 December, Palestinian and Israeli activists signed the Geneva Accord, a controversial and unofficial peace proposal. Despite all the activity, observers see little cause for optimism. "These events," said Abdel-Qader Yassin, a Cairo-based Palestinian expert, "are bound to overshadow the talks, and possibly thwart them." The Palestinian factions condemned both the Geneva Accord, which abrogates the right of millions of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, as well as the talks in London and Madrid. Although the Palestinian Authority refused to endorse the Geneva Accord, three Palestinian ministers attended the signing ceremony, which was interpreted as a sign of approval. Egypt and other Arab states have unofficially endorsed the Accord. The factions were scheduled to begin their meeting on 2 December, but that date ended up being postponed for two days because Israel would not permit delegates from Hamas and Jihad to leave the occupied territories, and also refused to guarantee their return, Hamas said. "There is a lot of chaos and confusion, which leaves very little room for a successful meeting," argued Yassin. "How can a besieged leadership [such as Arafat's] succeed in pressuring the Israelis to stick to a bilateral ceasefire? And how can people who have taken up armed resistance and sacrificed their lives be expected to lay down their arms and accept negotiations without guarantees?" Making matters even more complicated, said Yassin, was the fact that Arafat himself "does not want the factions to agree on a unified leadership, because that would undermine him." Hemdan agreed that the Geneva Accord "might negatively affect the talks." He called the agreement "an example of what the US and Israel want the issue to be reduced to. We are observing the situation with concern, [and participating in the talks] to bolster principles of steadfastness and resistance [in the face of] the intense pressure being put on the Palestinian issue." Moussa Abu Marzouq, the deputy chairman of Hamas's political bureau, will head that group's delegation in Cairo. Ziyad Nakhala, Jihad's assistant secretary general, is representing his movement, while Maher El-Taher will be representing the FPLP. Zakreya Al-Agha, a member of Fatah's central committee, will head his faction's delegation in Cairo. Since the Intifada began in September 2000, over 2,700 Palestinians have been killed and 37,000 injured.
