JERUSALEM: The Palestinian Authority is holding “serious dialogue” with the Islamic Jihad movement in a bid to persuade it to halt attacks against Israel, a senior official said yesterday.

“We have been engaged in a serious dialogue with Jihad to put an end to the attacks which go against our national interests,” presidential national security adviser Jibril Rajoub told reporters in Jerusalem.

“The Palestinian Authority is still committed to the truce and we will not accept any violation of the agreement,” he added.

Jihad and the other main Palestinian militant factions began observing a de facto truce at the beginning of the year but Jihad’s commitment has been called into doubt after its involvement in at least two deadly attacks in recent days.

Israel has responded by resuming arrest operations against the movement, and detained more than 50 Jihad followers on the eve of last week’s summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Rajoub said Abbas’s regime would spare no effort in trying to ensure that the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip would take place in a peaceful atmosphere when it begins in mid-August.

“We will do everything in our ability to guarantee calm during the withdrawal and we have begun to create a special security unit which will be tasked with ensuring this.” – AFP