Egypt urges Mid-East truce

Palestinians say they have a moral right to act in self-defence

A senior Egyptian Government official has called on the Palestinians to implement a six-month moratorium on anti-Israel violence in order to kick-start a new peace process.

Dr Usama al-Baz, the senior political adviser to Egypt President Hosni Mubarak, said that suicide bombings targeting innocent Israelis did not advance the Palestinian cause.

They gave the Israeli army a pretext for incursions into Palestinian areas, he told the BBC.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said the Palestinians did not object to a moratorium in principle, but would require some kind of reciprocal commitment from the Israelis.

"You cannot tell people... to do that unless they see that the Israelis are going to reciprocate, and you can't force them to do it unless the Israelis allow us to rebuild our security forces," he said.

Most Palestinians say the occupation of their land gives them a moral right of self-defence, whether by stone throwing or suicide bombing, the BBC's Mark Doyle in Cairo says.

'Total cessation'

This is not the first time the Egyptians have proposed a cessation of Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians.

Egypt's similar call last year was rejected by militants

They called for a one-year moratorium last year at a conference of Palestinian groups, but the proposal was never implemented.

Mr Shaath said they had been unable to persuade militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

He added that the new "roadmap" for Middle East peace actually went much farther than calling for six-month moratorium on violence.

"It includes a total cessation of all violent activities on both sides. All this is in the road map, which was have accepted and so far the Israelis haven't," he said.

'Battle against terrorism'

Israel has expressed reservations about the plan but has not rejected it.

The Israeli Government has said operations against Palestinian militants would continue so long as there was no "Palestinian battle against terrorism".

Israel has repeatedly accused the Palestinian Authority of failing to try to stop attacks against Israelis since the Palestinian intifada (uprising) erupted in September, 2000.

Israel wants to see the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas - also known as Abu Mazen - curb violence before it eases restrictions on the Palestinians.