Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged the Palestinian factions, meeting outside Cairo, to agree to a broad ceasefire with Israel, while the militants rejected any open-ended truce.

Abbas defended his policy of "calming down" with Israel, saying it has helped bring many gains to the Palestinian people.

The remarks, made during a meeting with chief editors of Egyptian media, came one day after a new round of inter-Palestinian dialogue kicked off in a satellite town 20 km west of Cairo.

Representatives of 13 Palestinian factions, including the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad (Holy War), took part in the dialogue.

The Palestinians are seeking to sort out differences over a formal ceasefire with Israel and to achieve a unified Palestinian stance toward peace talks with the Jewish state.

Abbas cited some of Israel's concessions, including a declaration of stopping hunting down Palestinian fugitives wanted by Israel for alleged involvement in attacks on Israelis and the approval to pull back from some West Bank cities, to persuade the faction leaders to agree on a truce.

The Palestinian leader, touted as a moderate, was elected chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Jan. 9 as a formal successor to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

He has urged the Palestinian militant groups to call off an over-four-year-old armed struggle against Israel, saying that he would seek to establish an independent Palestinian state through peace talks.

Meanwhile, a leader of Islamic Jihad said Wednesday the group demanded a timetable for truce with Israel, rejecting any open-ended ceasefire with the Jewish state.

"Islamic Jihad is insisting on setting a timetable for a truce, to be agreed upon between Palestinians and Israelis," said Anwar Abu-Taha, a member of the political leadership of the group.

He acknowledged that an agreement on the timetable had not yet been realized among the leaders of the Palestinian factions.

The truce should also be conditional on the halting of Israel's aggression in the occupied Palestinian territories, he added.

The latest round of inter-Palestinian dialogue was originally scheduled for March 5, but was postponed following a Feb. 25 Tel Aviv suicide bombing attack which killed five Israelis.

The bombing shattered a mutual ceasefire declared by Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a Feb. 8 summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Israel further agreed at the meeting, which was also attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, to release some 900 Palestinian prisoners and return security control of five West Bank cities to the Palestinian side.

However, after the Tel Aviv bombing, Israel has frozen measures to fulfill the promise, urging the Palestinian side to crack down on militants.

In a positive development for Abbas, Israeli forces on Wednesday transferred the West Bank city of Jericho to the Palestinian security.

"From this moment, we are resuming our control over the Jericho area," Palestinian police chief in Jericho Brig. Ahmed Eid told reporters after shaking hands with Israeli Colonel Moti Almos in a short ceremony on Jericho's outskirts.

The fulfillment of the long-delayed promise could prove positive for Abbas in the inter-Palestinian dialogue. The Palestinian leader faces tough pressure from militant groups to show that peace talks, instead of the armed struggle, can really work.

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2005)