JERUSALEM -
and if I get these Palestinian assurances then there will be no problem Qureia said.
Qureia also said that truce talks with Hamas have been constructive. Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin said this week that his group would consider a truce but would not give up its right to strike at Israelis.
In Beirut, Lebanon, the political chief of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, said a quick agreement for a truce with Israel was unlikely. Sharon does not want a cease-fire and the U.S. is preoccupied with Iraq and its elections
Mashaal, speaking from Beirut, said in an interview Wednesday with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.
Hamas, responsible for most of the 104 suicide bombings in three years of conflict, follows an Islamic ideology that does not allow for a Jewish state in the Middle East.
Qureia said the real problem is the Israelis. When the Israeli side is ready and prepared for a mutual and serious cease-fire
a mutual cease-fire with clear conditions can be worked out, he said, listing problem areas including the barrier Israel is building between the West Bank and Israel, dipping into the West Bank in several places.
Israel has been cool to the idea of a new truce, demanding instead that the Palestinians crack down on the violent groups and disarm them, as required by the U.S.-backed road map peace plan.
Implementation of the plan, formally presented last June, has bogged down in violence and efforts to form a stable Palestinian government.
Qureia is serving a head of an emergency Cabinet appointed by Arafat with a one-month mandate that expires Nov. 4. Arafat has asked Qureia to form a full Cabinet by then, though he failed in weeks of haggling -
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Israeli soldiers stand next to a damaged car belonging to Israeli physician Dr. Vallery Wiessbrot who was shot while driving with his wife next to the Jewish settlement of Kadim near the West Bank city of Jenin, yesterday. Palestinian gunmen ambushed the
