An Israeli settler speaks on his cell phone next to an unexploded rocket following an attack at the Neve Dekalim settlement, February 10,2005. Palestinian gunmen rained mortar fire into Israeli settlements in occupied Gaza despite new President Mahmoud Abbas's formal truce declaration at a summit that revived Middle East peace hopes. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

Jerusalem—The fledgling Israeli-Palestinian “understandings” were described as “very fragile” on Thursday after dozens of mortar shells were fired at Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip.

As Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas tried to persuade militants to hold their fire, the Israeli government was said to be mulling its response.

Fewer than two days after Abbas declared an end to violence against Israelis “wherever they are” at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, the understandings were facing their first challenge.

At least 30 mortar shells and a Kassam rocket were fired in two separate rounds at Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning. One house was damaged but there were not injuries, the army said.

Hamas said it fired 46 mortars at the Gush Katif settlements early Thursday in retaliation for the killing of two Palestinians on Wednesday by the Israeli army.

The army said one Palestinian was killed as he apparently tried to plant a bomb near a separation fence in the Gaza Strip. And in the second incident, soldiers fired warning shots when they spotted four Palestinians approaching an off-limits security zone. However, the soldiers did not believe they hit anyone, the army said.

Abbas was meeting with leaders of radical factions in the Gaza Strip on Thursday for the first time since his declaration. Hamas has said it will not be bound by the understandings.

Abbas has said that he would not use force to crack down on militant groups opposed to his policies. But he has deployed thousands of security forces in the Gaza Strip, including the area from which the mortars were fired on Thursday, in an apparent effort to stop the attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with top Israeli ministers on Thursday to discuss the mortar fire.

Sharon’s office declined to give an official response to the mortar fire but according to Israel radio, Sharon turned to “all sources,” including the Egyptians and the Americans, to “put a cork in the bottle.”

Cabinet minister Haim Ramon was quoted as saying that Abbas must control the situation right away, but Israel had to give him time to deal with the terror.

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that time is running out. Abbas’ grace period is becoming shorter, and if he does not act with force to stop the mortar and rocket fire, Israel would have to act to defend its citizens, Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

‘Very fragile’

A diplomatic source here described the situation as “very fragile” on Thursday.

The statements made on Tuesday were not an “agreement” but only understandings, the source said, where each side made its own declarations of what they were willing to do.

Abbas said the PA and Sharon had agreed to “end to all acts of violence against Israelis and Palestinians, wherever they are.”

It’s a “very sensitive period,” the diplomatic source said, adding that it was known ahead of time that Hamas would try to put obstacles in the way of the understandings and that Hizballah also would support efforts to scuttle any moves toward peace.

For Israel, it is an “essential condition” that there is quiet, the source said. Sharon has said that he will respond to quiet with quiet.

Israel is offering humanitarian gestures to the Palestinians because it understands that the Palestinians must see a change in their everyday lives if they are going to support Abbas.

Israel opened the Erez crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Thursday and allowed 1,000 Palestinian workers and 500 merchants to enter Israel from the Gaza Strip, although for technical reasons not that many had taken advantage of the opportunity, the army said. Also 2,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank were being allowed into Israel.

Prior to the intifadah, more than 100,000 Palestinians used to cross into Israel each day for work.

Israel also has agreed to release of 900 Palestinian security prisoners from Israeli jails, a concession that did not please the Palestinians, who all the prisoners released.

Linkage

According to one Middle East expert, the Palestinians have a matter of days to sort things out.

The mortar attacks show that there is “no linkage” between the Palestinian political/diplomatic sphere and the militant groups, said Dr. Guy Bechor from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzlyia.

Hamas has “changed the balance of deterrence” by saying that it will react whenever the Israeli army kills a Palestinian or interferes in Palestinian security affairs, Bechor said.

While the Sharm el-Sheikh summit is an achievement because it shows that Israel has been accepted into a Middle East “quartet” - Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians - without any superpower influence—“the lack of linkage is worrying,” he said.

Abbas can take care of the situation in the Gaza Strip, but from his point of view he must do it “softly” by not disarming the radicals. On the other hand, Israel definitely wants the groups disarmed, Bechor said.

“There is a very huge difference,” he said. After the “euphoria” surrounding the summit, Abbas must take care of the radical groups in the next few days - not weeks - or the understandings may collapse, he added.