BEIJING, Dec. 4 -- Almost ten days into a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has offered a tentative olive branch to the Palestinian Authority, but says Israel will retaliate if provoked.

    A fragile peace made more than a week ago is barely holding. Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into Israeli towns in southern Gaza just as Israeli troops continue patrols in search of rocket launchers in the occupied West Bank. But addressing his Kadima Party in Jerusalem, Israel's Prime Minister said progress had been made. But he also stressed that while Israel was prepared to be patient, it could and would react if Palestinian fighters should break the truce.

    "There's been a dramatic drop in violence in Gaza but not a complete stop. We've decided not to respond hastily but to be patient. If violence does not end in spite of the clear agreement, we have the time and power to consider how to act."said Ehud Olmert.

    The Gaza offensive was sparked by a Palestinian kidnap of an Israeli soldier in late June.

    It later widened into a 5-month conflict aimed at rooting out militants in Gaza launching daily rocket strikes into southern Israel. A truce in late November saw Israel calling for a return to peace talks and Prime Minister Olmert offering, for the first time, to release Palestinian prisoners. Recent discussions have considered extending the truce beyond the Gaza Strip, and into the West Bank a move backed by both the US and Palestinian President, also leader of the Fatah group, Mahmoud Abbas. But Fatah's rival and Palestinian ruling party, Hamas, is proving harder to convince.

    Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Hamas member, Palestinian FM said, "There'll be no new talks unless there is a fresh basis for discussions."

    Hamas is blaming, at least in part, President Abbas. A dramatic verdict last week saw Abbas announce that talks with Hamas to form a national unity government could go no further, having reached what he called a "dead end".

(Source: CCTV.com)