CAIRO, Dec. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- - Palestinian officials were seeking fresh truce talks with militants on Monday after Egyptian-brokered efforts to secure a comprehensive cease-fire failed, setting back hopes of reviving a U.S.-backed peace plan.

    Hamas, Islamic Jihad and three other Palestinian factions on Sunday rejected an Egyptian proposal they halt all attacks against Israelis to give new impetus to the road map to peace which envisages the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.

    But members of President Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction said they would not accept "no" as the final answer and would try to persuade militant factions to change their minds.

    The Palestinians failed to agree on a truce offer to Israel on Sunday after three days of talks, setting back the Palestinian prime minister's hopes for a halt in violence to jump start the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.         

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites), right, meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in Cairo, Sunday, Dec.7, 2003. Qureia will participate in the Palestinian factions talks in Cairo aimed to revive a U.S.-backed peace 'road map' stalled amid an upsurge in bloodshed. (AP Photo)

    Hamas and Islamic Jihad would agree only to a limited truce, ending attacks on civilians in Israel but not on Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

    Expanded truce talks to be held Sunday evening was canceled, a Palestinian source told Xinhua.

    "The talks to be attended by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and delegations of the main 12 factions were canceled, and Qurei has left Cairo," thesource said.

    The planned talks would discuss a possible comprehensive ceasefire with Israel in the coming period, a Palestinian diplomatic source said earlier.

    Earlier in the day, the 12 main Palestinian groups ended their four-day discussions after reaching a consensus on excluding Palestinian and Israeli civilians from attacks.

    The agreement was included in an eight-point declaration issued by the factions following the talks, said Mussa Abu Marzuk, head ofthe delegation from Hamas.

    The declaration could be seen as a compromise deal among theparticipating factions, which have been bickering over whether tooffer Israel a ceasefire.

    Representatives from the radical Islamic Jihad and Hamas hadonly agreed on stopping attacks on both Palestinian and Israeli civilians, while delegates from the mainstream Fatah movement had tried hard to persuade the hardliners to accept a conditional ceasefire.

    Radical Palestinian groups have been suspicious of Israel's sincerity for peace, given the fact that the previous truce deal was easily collapsed in the wake of a series of Israeli targeted killings.

    Under Egyptian mediation, Palestinian militant groups agreed in late June to suspend their anti-Israel attacks for three months.

    But the unilateral ceasefire collapsed after Israel killed asenior Hamas official, Abu Shanab, in a missile attack in late August. (Agencies)