Several Palestinian factions agree in principle to a ceasefire with Israel. 11 groups agree in Cairo to proposals that include a six-month truce a prisoner exchange and reopening of the border between Gaza and Israel. Egyptian mediators will now try to sell truce offer to Israel

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Palestinian militant factions agreed yesterday to a proposal for a truce with Israel that Egyptian mediators will now try to sell to Tel Aviv a senior Egyptian official said.
The 12 groups meeting in Cairo agreed to the plan already backed by Hamas and Fatah for a "comprehensive simultaneous and reciprocal period of calm to be applied progressively first in Gaza and then in the West Bank" Egypt's MENA news agency said without naming the official.
"This is a stage in a plan aimed at creating a situation that will allow for the lifting of the (Israeli) blockade of the Gaza Strip and the end of internal Palestinian divisions" the official was quoted as saying.
A deal for a six-month period of calm had already been accepted by Hamas while Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas from rival Fatah on Sunday gave the negotiations unconditional support.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri speaking to Agence France-Presse in Gaza called the agreement a "good step which confirms that the ball is in Israel's court. "
"It's up to the occupation to choose between the success of the Egyptian effort and agree to a mutual period of calm or the failure of this effort of which it will bear the consequences."
Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has been serving as a go-between in truce negotiations as Israel refuses any direct contacts with organizations it considers terror groups.
An official at the Israeli defence ministry told AFP that Suleiman was "not expected before Sunday."
Gaza blockade:
MENA said that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had called Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to inform him of the talks' outcome and "look at means of easing Israel's blockade of Gaza."
Egypt is keen to avoid a repeat of a January breach of its Rafah border crossing with Gaza by Hamas militants that saw hundreds of thousands of needy Palestinians flood into Egypt to stock up on supplies.
The agreement of Islamic Jihad which fires most rockets from Gaza into Israel is seen as crucial for the deal. However a spokesman for the group said they would respect a truce but not sign it if it applied only in Gaza.
"We will respect what Israel respects but we will not sign a truce to be applied only in the Gaza Strip" Jihad spokesman Daud Shahab told AFP from Gaza.
"If the Palestinian factions agree on a period of calm we will not be an obstacle but we will not sign. We reject the principle of a calming in Gaza; we are against a political division between Gaza and the West Bank" he said.
Other factions at the Cairo talks include the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) as well as the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Popular Struggle Front (PSF).

Olmert holds talk in Jordan:
Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held talks in Jordan yesterday with Jordanian King Abdullah on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process Olmert's bureau said in a statement.
"The two leaders discussed the peace process and ways to make progress towards the objectives set at the Annapolis conference" the statement said about the visit according to Reuters.
The U.S.-hosted conference in Annapolis Maryland last November re-launched Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that have shown little visible sign of progress.
The United States hopes both sides can reach a Palestinian statehood deal before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January.
A spokesman for Olmert declined to elaborate on his trip to Jordan a week after King Abdullah met Bush in Washingon as part of a diplomatic drive to shore up Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Bush is due to visit the region next month to mark Israel's 60th anniversary. He also plans to hold talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt with Arab leaders including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert last visited Jordan Israel's eastern neighbor in January. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994.