CAIRO ø Egypt has launched a dialogue with an Iranian-sponsored
Palestinian insurgency group responsible for numerous suicide bombings in
Israel.
Palestinian sources said the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
has hosted the Islamic Jihad for talks on security arrangements in the Gaza
Strip as well as Palestinian national unity. The sources said senior
Egyptian officials met an Islamic Jihad delegation in Cairo on Tuesday in
talks that could last throughout the week.
Egypt has also recently held talks with Hamas. The
United States has not expressed opposition to Egyptian government meetings
with either Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
[Overnight Wednesday, Israeli naval commandos killed five Fatah
insurgents in Nablus, Middle East Newsline reported. Israeli military sources said the insurgents were part
of an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades cell that carried out numerous shooting
attacks against Israeli troops in the Nablus area.]
Launched more than 20 years in the Gaza Strip, Jihad has been listed on
the State Department list of terrorist sponsors. On Tuesday, Israeli
security sources said a leading Jihad operative was killed in the northern
West Bank city of Tulkarm.
Palestinian sources said Egypt has also been hosting leaders of Hamas,
also on the U.S. terrorist list. They said Hamas leaders have been shuttling
between Damascus and Cairo in an Egyptian effort to coordinate with the
Islamic opposition to the PA regarding the future of the Gaza Strip.
The disclosure of an Egyptian-Jihad dialogue was confirmed by the
Palestinian group in Gaza City. The Palestinian sources said the Jihad
dialogue would be followed by an Egyptian meeting with the ruling Fatah
movement and the opposition Hamas.
Jihad spokesman Mohamed Hindi said the meeting in Cairo would focus on
reforms in the Palestinian Authority, preserving Palestinian unity and the
Israeli plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and northern West
Bank. Hindi said Egypt was trying to establish what he termed a
comprehensive dialogue with all Palestinian factions.
"Until now, the Egyptian attitude is positive and focuses on unifying
Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and also on full [Israeli]
withdrawal from Gaza," Hindi said.
Jihad and other Islamic insurgency groups have rejected any Egyptian
security role in the Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal. Egypt has
offered to send up to 300 military and security personnel to the Gaza Strip
to train PA security forces.
On Sept. 13, Egyptian and PA security officials met in Cairo to discuss
security arrangements after the Israeli withdrawal. Next week, Egyptian
intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was expected to fly to Israel and meet
Israeli officials regarding the same issue.
Palestinian sources said the first batch of PA officers would fly to
Cairo over the weekend to train in Egypt. They said 45 PA officers would
spend seven weeks in training.