Militants Pledge To Keep Fighting

Islamic militants will not end their attacks on Israelis even after Palestinian self-rule is extended to other parts of the West Bank, a militant leader said Wednesday.

Fathi Shuqaqi, a Damascus-based leader of Islamic Jihad, said the group would not participate in Palestinian elections to choose a selfrule council and would not end its attacks after Israeli troops withdraw from Palestinian areas.

“We don’t think that being an official opposition” in the self-rule council “is serving our cause, but military action does, and for us it’s essential,” he said in an interview.

Israeli and Palestine Liberation Organization negotiators are holding talks to try to meet a July 1 deadline for an agreement on an Israeli troop withdrawal from West Bank towns and villages before the long-delayed elections.