By Diadie Ba DAKAR, June 9 (Reuters) - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade called for an immediate ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hamas militants from Monday as part of his efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wade, the current chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), met envoys from Islamist Hamas and the more secular rival Palestinian movement Fatah at the weekend, hoping to agree common ground for eventual peace with Israel. "I ask Israel and Hamas for an immediate ceasefire from Monday June 9, 2008 at 1200 GMT: no more Israeli attacks or incursions into the Gaza Strip, and no more shooting at Israel by Hamas," Wade said in a statement issued late on Sunday. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said his group was ready for a truce if Israel reciprocated and lifted its blockade of Gaza. "Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire deal if the Israeli occupation abides by the conditions of a ceasefire and if that were to end the aggression and lift the siege," he said in Gaza. "Once the Israeli occupation is committed to a reciprocal ceasefire and to lifting the siege, then we can talk about a zero hour," Zuhri said. Wade announced at an OIC summit in Dakar in March that Israeli President Shimon Peres had asked him to intervene in the Middle East, and that the Palestinians had also agreed to his mediation. He said after the weekend talks that he would soon visit the West Bank, Gaza and Israel to pursue his mediation, which he called on the Arab League and other groups to support. "I ask all Arab countries and members of the Islamic Ummah (community) to avoid proliferation of individual initiatives, which are almost always hurried and uncoordinated, which will only serve to cloud the mediation for nothing," Wade said. Yemen tried to broker a reconciliation deal between the rival Palestinian movements in March, calling for Hamas to hand over control of Gaza. Arab ministers meeting at the Arab League have backed the Yemeni proposal but Hamas says it will only resume talks without preconditions. "This is not about a quest for glory -- which is imaginary at this stage, and would seem premature given the road to peace is long, difficult and strewn with obstacles," Wade said. A statement following his weekend talks with Fatah's Hikmat Zeid and Emad Khalid Alamy of Hamas said Senegal would maintain contact with both sides to organise future negotiations with the aim of "reconciling the Palestinian family". Hamas ended more than 40 years of Fatah's unchallenged leadership of the Palestinian people with a victory in parliamentary elections in 2006. Hamas fighters went on to rout Fatah forces and take over the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, hailed a "new spirit" of dialogue last week from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah. Haniyeh called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Saturday, seeking Arab support for renewed dialogue. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli border police officers during a protest against the construction of Israel's controversial barrier in the West Bank village of Nilleen, near Ramallah, June 4, 2008. ...
