Palestinian groups agree to halt attacks in Israel

The final communique, drafted by representatives of all 13 factions, blamed Israel for the failure of a previous unilateral truce declared by Palestinian factions in June which collapsed two months later.

"The participants hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for the abortion of the initiative of suspending military attacks on June 29... The participants reiterate their conditional readiness to avoid attacking civilians," said the communique, read to Reuters by a Palestinian official.

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Senior representatives of the factions would meet at 9.00 a.m. (0700 GMT) to declare their final approval of the draft text and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman along with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie would then attend a final session of talks, officials said.

Meanwhile, Israel rejected a an agreement yesterday by Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo to halt suicide bombings inside Israel without stopping attacks on Israeli soldiers or settlers in occupied land.

A senior Israeli official told Reuters such a deal would not be enough to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks or set up a proposed summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie.

"I would say that such a halfway measure is a non-starter. What kind of a cease-fire is it when there is no cease-fire and you continue to shoot?" the official said.

But he said Israel would reciprocate if Palestinian groups ceased all attacks.

"We say that if there will be quiet, if there is no shooting, there will be no military action on our part. But we're not going to sit back and wait until a suicide bombing or an attack on a settlement occurs."

Palestinian cabinet member and negotiator Saeb Erekat said the director of Sharon's bureau and Qurie's top aide was set to meet yesterday to prepare for a summit, a move viewed as crucial to reviving talks under the US-backed road map peace plan.

But the Israeli official said continued haggling in Cairo over a truce agreement had thrown this meeting into doubt.

Sharon has vowed to pursue talks with Qurie to advance the road map, a plan which calls for a series of reciprocal steps to end Israeli-Palestinian violence and establish a Palestinian state by 2005.

Plans to hold a summit have been put off for weeks amid disputes over setting the conditions for talks.

Israel has rejected a Palestinian demand for a pre-summit gesture of halting the construction of a West Bank barrier viewed worldwide as a land grab, but which Israel says is needed to keep suicide bombers from reaching its towns and cities.