Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he expected armed factions to agree on a formal cease-fire next week, as Israel and Egypt neared an agreement on the deployment of Egyptian troops along the Gaza border once Israel withdraws. "There are no radical differences and the Cairo dialogue should expect to crown efforts that are under way with the declaration of an agreement," Abbas said of talks between the Palestinian factions to be held in the Egyptian capital next Tuesday. The meeting had been delayed after an Islamic Jihad militant blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv nightclub last month, jeopardizing a truce declared by Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a Middle East summit in Egypt.Echoing other Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, Abbas slammed Israel for dragging its feet over enacting confidence-building gestures that Sharon promised at the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Israeli premier has pledged to release 900 Palestinian prisoners and transfer to the PA security control in five West Bank towns: Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Jericho. But two rounds of talks on ceding control of Jericho ended in deadlock on Wednesday, with Palestinian officials accusing Israeli commanders of refusing to relinquish control of checkpoints and of the wider area. "We did not reach an agreement due to [Israel's] prevarications," said Abbas, also condemning Israel's killing of an Islamic Jihad militant on Thursday in the northern West Bank, wanted in connection with the Tel Aviv attack.
"Although the Authority has made a 100-percent effort, inevitably it cannot be 100 percent successful," said Abbas, hitting back at Israeli criticism that the Palestinians had not done enough to rein in militants and halt attacks. The Palestinian president also stressed the urgency of follow-up talks with Sharon. "We must meet. Whether at his place or ours, is of no importance," he told a Gaza City news conference.