November 20, 2003	Thursday	Ramazan 24, 1424

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GAZA CITY, Nov 19: The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said on Wednesday that it would reject any agreement for a suspension of anti-Israeli attacks.

“We will not sign up to any truce agreement with the enemy which has been mentioned in the media and we have no connection whatsoever with any document calling for a truce,” the group said in a statement.

The statement came at a time when recently-appointed prime minister Ahmed Qorei arrived in the Gaza Strip was holding talks with all Palestinian factions.

“We are committed to the continuation of the resistance and the struggle against the occupation of all of Palestine,” the statement added.

The group claimed responsibility for Monday attack on an Israeli military roadblock in the West Bank just south of Al Quds which left two soldiers dead.

“Any talk of a truce does not reflect our position, which we confirmed yesterday with the killing of two Zionist soldiers in Jerusalem,” the statement said.

“We swear there will be more revenge, more suicide attacks, we will avenge the blood of our martyrs, we will put an end to the occupation, and our answer to Ariel Sharon’s massacres will be very tough.”

Qorei said when his full government was sworn in last week that reaching a fresh truce agreement with Palestinian factions would be his priority.

So far, neither Islamic Jihad nor its hardline rival Hamas have ruled out a suspension of anti-Israeli attacks, and both groups will be represented in talks Qorei is due to conduct Wednesday with the factions.

When most factions declared a truce at the end of June after weeks of negotiations with then prime minister Mahmud Abbas, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades officially adhered to the agreement but renegade local cells continued sporadic attacks.

Meanwhile, Palestinian premier Ahmed Qorei held a round of talks with security chiefs and leaders of the main armed factions on Wednesday in a bid to institute a new truce after his government lifted a freeze on bank accounts linked to the radical Hamas movement.

The fresh truce attempts came amid cautious optimism that the circumstances were more conducive to a viable agreement than when Qorei’s predecessor Mahmud Abbas laboriously brokered a deal, which lasted only seven weeks last summer.

“We came today to listen to Qorei, the movement will study the issue and decide what is best of the interest of the Palestinians and its unity in the face of the Zionist aggression,” said Hamas leader Ismail Haniya as he went into talks with Qorei.—AFP