JERUSALEM, May 10, 2006
Israel Gives Palestinians A Deadline
Must Start Talks By End Of Year; Meanwhile, Palestinians Are Running Out Of Gas
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An Israeli soldier covers his ears as mobile artillery piece fires towards the Gaza Strip, at a position near the southern Israeli Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, May 9, 2006. Israeli troops often fire artillery into the Gaza Strip at sites used by Palestinian militants to fire homemade rockets. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, second from the left, meets world mayors attending the 24th Jerusalem Conference of Mayors at his office, May 9, 2006. (AP Photo/Yonathan Weitzman)
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Interactive Mideast Conflict Events, key players and a history of the world's most unstable region.
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Photo Essay Historic Vote Palestinians vote in their first parliamentary election in a decade.
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Interactive Shaping Israel Israelis vote in an election labeled as a referendum on the country's future in the West Bank
It comes on the heels of a decision by Mideast peacemakers to funnel humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, which Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Wednesday is "certainly acceptable" to Israel.
Meanwhile, Dor Energy, the Israeli company that provides fuel to the Palestinian areas, is cutting off supplies due to growing debts.
In other developments:
The statement by Justice Minister Haim Ramon, a close associate of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's, was the first by an Israeli official to set a deadline for the Hamas-led Palestinian government to disarm and recognize the Jewish state.
The Palestinians' moderate president, Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah party, has tried to persuade Israel to bypass Hamas and resume peace talks with him, but Olmert has said he wouldn't negotiate with Abbas if Hamas didn't change its violent ways.
"Through the end of this year, 2006, there will be honest attempts to talk to the other side," Ramon told Israel's Army Radio.
"If it becomes clear by the end of the year that we really have no partner, and the international community is also convinced of this, then we will take our fate into our own hands and not leave our fate in the hands of our enemies," he added.
While the cash strapped Hamas government welcomed the resumption of international aid, it said it could not agree to the Quartet's demands to recognize Israel, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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