Cairo, Sept 05: Talks mediated by Egypt between members of the Palestinian Authority and the militant group Hamas to secure a truce in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have ended in failure, A London-based Arab daily reported today. The Palestinian Authority's representative, Culture Minister Ziad Abu Amr, and Hamas representative Osama Hamdan both left Cairo on Wednesday after a meeting that produced no results, said the paper.
Hamdan had asked for guarantees from the Palestinian Authority before Hamas would agree to a new ceasefire, but Abu Amr was unable to offer anything concrete, the paper said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad called off a seven-week truce after the death of senior Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab in an Israeli air raid on August 22, in reprisal for a Hamas bombing of a bus that killed 21 passengers in Jerusalem three days earlier. Bureau Report