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GAZA - Palestinian leaders met on Sunday in a bid to bridge their differences over a US plan that aims to bolster prospects for renewed peace talks with Israel by setting dates for both sides to take confidence-building steps.
The plan calls for a "timeline" for so-called "benchmark" steps including the Palestinian forces cracking down on rocket attacks and Israel easing restrictions for Palestinians.
Hamas, which leads a Palestinian unity government, has flatly rejected the plan, under which President Mahmoud Abbas would start deploying his Fatah-dominated forces by mid-June to halt rocket fire and smuggling by Gaza militants.
But Abbas' aides said he was willing to work with the US plan, albeit with amendments. "We want it to be implemented. We hope to see the Israelis implement it," Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Abbas, said.
"We have accepted these ideas in the past, the only thing that's new about it is the introduction of timelines," Erekat told Reuters.
The different positions again expose the tensions between Abbas' secular Fatah faction and ruling Hamas Islamists, less than two months after they formed their unity government in a bid to end infighting.
Abbas met Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas at the presidential office in Gaza on Sunday evening for talks Erekat said would cover the US timeline.
Hamas has shown no flexibility towards a plan that the group sees as part of an American effort to strengthen Abbas' forces. "The American plan is rejected and we will work to make it fail by any means," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Baroum.
- REUTERS
