Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed Monday to press ahead with an assault on Hamas, and the Islamic militant group rebuffed Egyptian mediators’ proposals for a truce with Israel. With the peace effort stumbling, Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas traveled to the Gaza Strip for a desperate push to persuade militants to lay down their arms. After a week of violence highlighted by Israeli air strikes aimed at killing Hamas militants and a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem, with dozens of causalities on both sides, there were concerns that any further delays and violence could bury the U.S.-backed “road map” to peace and a proposed Palestinian state by 2005. At the core of the problem is the refusal of Hamas and other militant groups to join Abbas in his call for an end to 32 months of violence against Israel. Full Story
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