Palestinians reject ceasefire call

Palestinians have rejected Ariel Sharon's offer of a ceasefire

JERUSALEM -- Palestinians have rejected a call by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for an end to nearly eight months of clashes in the Mideast.

In a televised news conference, Sharon called for a complete ceasefire and appealed to the Palestinians to follow suit.

"I call for a total truce in the area, and I say again here that if the Palestinians accept this proposal to stop the fire, we will immediately stop the fire," he said.

But Sharon also repeated earlier calls that "the first thing that has to happen is an end to the terror."

The Palestinians immediately rejected Sharon's offer, with senior Palestinian official Ahmed Abdel Rahman calling Israel "the aggressor."

"We reject everything Sharon said about a ceasefire," Abdel Rahman, an aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, told The Associated Press.

VIDEO Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he supports a cease-fire if there is 'an end to the terror' (May 22) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, calls on Israel to accept the report 'as a whole' (May 21) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    RESOURCES Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website) Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ Click here to download the reader.    CNN ACCESS Peres: 'Our enemies are not the Palestinians' Erakat: Mitchell report can provide a way out Mitchell: No such thing 'as conflict that can't be ended'

Later, speaking to Reuters news agency, Arafat's aide described the ceasefire offer as "a lie" and said a Palestinian "status of self-defence" would continue as long as Israel occupied land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

He claimed the move by Sharon was just a ploy to "alleviate international pressure on Israel, which was condemned for excessive use of force."

Sharon blamed the last eight months of violence -- which has been marked by more than 500 deaths -- on the Palestinian Authority.

But chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Sharon was responsible for the violence, saying he unleashed it by making a provocative trip to the Temple Mount -- a sacred spot in east Jerusalem known as the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims -- last September.

Following Sharon's news conference, Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered the Israeli Army to stop all firing except "when life is in danger" .

He called on the Palestinians to "immediately stop violence and terrorism as a first step towards a return to the negotiating table," as recommended in the report by the Mitchell Committee on violence in the Middle East a day earlier.

The report calls for an immediate ceasefire, a cooling-off period, and a framework and timetable for the Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

CNN's Mike Hanna said a Sharon aide described the defence minister's order as a "first step" designed to "give all parties the best shot" towards observing a ceasefire.

But, he said, even after the military order was issued, Israel Radio was reporting fresh exchanges of gunfire in Gaza.

Arafat left the Gaza Strip on Wednesday for a visit to France, where he is due to meet French President Jacques Chirac, Palestinian officials said