Abbas calls for 6-month ME peace deadline

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called Tuesday for a six-month deadline for a final status deal with Israel following a US-sponsored international peace meeting due later this year.
Abbas made the call after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and as Palestinian and Israeli teams seek to draft a joint document outlining the parameters for an agreement to be discussed at the peace meeting.
"This document must... set an adequate timeframe to complete negotiations on a final resolution after the next meeting," Abbas told journalists.
"We have proposed a maximum timeframe of six months. Until now, we haven't reached an agreement with the Israelis or the Americans on this timeframe but we feel it is sufficient," he said.
"Six months is enough time to discuss and agree on the problems of the final phase," he said, adding that "we will not accept leaving these questions open forever."
Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip late Tuesday killed four Hamas militants and wounded five, Palestinian medical sources said.
Israeli warplanes attacked a "terrorist position in response to rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip on localities in southern Israel," an Israeli military spokesman told AFP.