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13,000 Palestinian security forces deployed to maintain cease-fire
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday ordered 13,000 security forces to deploy near the border to enforce a cease-fire agreement with Israel, sources in Abbas' office told CNN. The move came hours after Palestinian militants in Gaza apparently launched nearly a dozen rockets toward Israel. Abbas also called on the Palestinian factions who previously negotiated the cease-fire to meet again to ensure the agreement holds, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters Sunday. The Israeli leader said his country will not take immediate action in the wake of the violations. "Israel is a powerful country that can allow itself to show restraint and to give the cease-fire a chance to be fully implemented," Olmert said. Hamas' militant wing and the Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for firing several rockets into Israel after the cease-fire took effect at 6 a.m. (11 p.m. ET Sunday). In its leaflet, Islamic Jihad said it will "hold our right for resistance as long as Israel continues its aggression." According to the Israel Defense Forces, only two of the 11 rockets fired from Gaza after 6 a.m. landed inside Israel. Both landed in open fields and did not cause any casualties or damage. Militants also fired several rockets just before the cease-fire took effect, according to IDF. No one was injured, but a house in Sderot was damaged. Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad insisted that all Palestinian factions are "100 percent" behind the cease-fire. "All of them now, without exception, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Fatah and other factions, they decided to respect the agreement and also to be committed 100 percent to this agreement," Hamad told CNN. Hamad denied reports that Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel after cease-fire took effect. "Hamas fired missiles before 6 o'clock, which is the time of the beginning of the cease-fire and they have released a statement [at] 7 o'clock," he said. "We have contact with all factions now, especially from the prime minister [Ismail Haniyeh], and he asked to stop firing missiles from Gaza." In addition to talking about implementation of the Gaza cease-fire, the Palestinian factions will discuss expanding the truce to the West Bank, Olmert said. He said he hopes the meeting will lead to "a serious, real, honest and direct negotiation between myself and [Abbas] so we could make a progress towards a full settlement between Israel and the Palestinians." Palestinian factions offered the cease-fire proposal to Israel on Saturday, agreeing to stop firing rockets into Israel. In exchange, Israel agreed to withdraw troops from Gaza and cease military operations, including targeted airstrikes on militants. Israel Defense Minister Amir Peretz convened a scheduled security meeting to discuss the cease-fire violation earlier in the day. During the meeting Peretz learned of the rocket launches out of Gaza and said every attempt to fire rockets on Israel will be considered a violation of the cease-fire and will be dealt with in "a severe manner," a ministry statement said. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-11-26 |
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