Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief Mr Mahmoud Abbas met militant leaders today in a bid to halt attacks on Israel and allow a smooth election for a successor to Yasser Arafat next year, officials said.
Mr Abbas, a former prime minister who is also seen as a likely presidential candidate for the January 9 poll, opened talks with 14 groups in Gaza late yesterday.
He began a meeting with Hamas today and was to hold talks with Islamic Jihad later. The two groups are behind a wave of suicide bombings in the four-year-old Palestinian uprising.
Arafat's death has kindled hopes of a revival in Middle East peacemaking, but also fears of violence between Palestinian factions vying for power. Mr Abbas escaped injury on Sunday in a Gaza gunfight started by angry militants.
Israel has said it will consider renewing peace moves if a new Palestinian leadership curbs attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said today that he might start with coordination with Palestinians of his plan to quit the occupied Gaza Strip next year, initially set down as a unilateral measure.
"If in time we see that there is a Palestinian leadership that is willing to fight terror, we can have security coordination and an agreement regarding the territory of a withdrawal," Mr Sharon said in a meeting with officials of his rightist Likud party.
Confidants of Mr Abbas said he wanted to win over all the groups, including Islamists sworn to Israel's destruction. They in turn might be given greater political influence.
"In the bilateral talks there will be a discussion of specific issues, the issue of a truce or maybe a temporary ceasefire will be discussed because there is a need," said lawmaker Mr Ziad Abu Amr, who is close to Mr Abbas.
Senior Hamas official Mr Mahmoud al-Zahar said the group wanted general elections, not held since 1996, including a parliamentary ballot that would loosen the dominant Fatah party's grip on Palestinian politics.
Mr Zahar also told reporters before the Gaza meeting that Hamas would not consider a truce until Israel ceased raids and assassinations in Palestinian areas, among other steps.