The Syrian regime's objective is to shut off the rebels' supply chain to the Turkish border, and the more truces they sign, the longer they have to linger and wait.
UN-led peace talks in Geneva collapsed earlier this month without reaching agreement, but Dujarric described the more recent truce as a "confidence-building step towards a durable cease-fire".
A more sustained truce is needed before Mr. Arafat is invited to the White House again.
Israel and Hamas began separate cease-fires on Jan . 18 and Egypt is trying to broker a more sustainable truce.
No date or place has been set, and Palestinian officials were guarded about the prospects for bringing about a more meaningful truce than several that have been declared over the last 11 months, never to materialize.
Communication between the two sides resulted in a more formal truce on 24 May.
Israel, of course, will point out that whatever "gentleman's agreement" (or, later, more formal truce agreements) Hamas might enter into, prior to that time it had launched murderous attacks during the Second Intifadah.
It will be more of a truce than a treaty.
This peace, however, proved little more than a truce; a third war soon broke out in September 1568.
