June 29, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424

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CAIRO, June 28: Palestinian militant factions will announce their three-month ceasefire in anti-Israeli attacks on Monday at the latest, an Arab League source said.

“The announcement of the truce will take place Sunday night or Monday morning simultaneously in Cairo and the Palestinian territories,” the source, who is close to the Palestinian dossier, said on Saturday.

He added that representatives of several hardline Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, were already in Cairo, while teams from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah and other factions were expected to arrive shortly.

A Palestinian source said earlier that the Hamas and Islamic Jihad members were due to brief Egyptian officials on progress toward agreeing to the temporary halt in anti-Israeli attacks.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said “things are moving in the right direction and positive news is expected”.

Mr Maher, quoted by the official MENA news agency, called on Israel “to respond to the good intentions of the Palestinians by a similar move”.

Hamas officials Osama Hamadan and Imad al-Alami arrived in Cairo on Friday night and had already had a first meeting with Egyptian officials, the Arab League source said, adding that an Islamic Jihad delegation was due to join the talks.—AFP