Hamas Accepts Invitation for Dialogue

Hamas has accepted the invitation from Ahmad Qurei, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, to participate in a dialogue. On Sunday, Mr. Qurei refrained from announcing details of the meeting and whether the aim of this meeting is to stop Hamas's attacks on Israel, but emphasized the Palestinian officials' desire to gain Hamas's support for a ceasefire. The possibility of this dialogue arose two days after armed Muslim extremists participated in an attack on Friday. In the attack on Friday, which occurred in a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, one armed extremist and three Israeli soldiers, two of whom were women, were killed. In response to the armed extremists' attack, Israel launched a counterattack on Sunday, destroying two high-rise buildings that were unoccupied. Israel claims that these two high-rise buildings were used by the armed extremists to plan the attack on Friday against the Jewish settlement of "Netzarim." Meanwhile, Israeli officials say they intend to begin low-level dialogues with Palestinian officials. Mr. Qurei has so far refrained from participating in any dialogue with Ariel Sharon.