Outline of a possible Gaza truce emerges

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EU willing to contribute monitors
Europe appears willing to contribute monitors in any number of scenarios.

These could include watching entrances and exits from Gaza, monitoring a cease-fire if all sides agree, and even acting as customs agents to police what is coming in and out of Gaza. "We'll go as far as possible," the European diplomat said. "Everything depends on whether the Israelis trust us. If they want us to go as far as playing a customs role, we will."

Turkey, Israel's closest Muslim ally, also expressed willingness to contribute monitors.

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Still, a key sticking point is who would be deployed on the Gaza side of the border. Egypt says it will only open Rafah if Abbas' forces staff the crossing. Egypt, worried about Islamic fundamentalism at home, is trying to contain Hamas, which is backed by Iran and Syria.

Abbas, who is eager to gain a new foothold in the territory, was to fly to New York later Monday to lobby at the United Nations for reviving the 2005 deal, his aides said.

However, Hamas has been cool to the idea of letting Abbas back into Gaza. Similar proposals were raised in the past as part of failed power-sharing talks between the two bitter rivals.

It's also not clear what sort of role Israel is ready to give the militant group.

There has been no direct contact between Abbas and Hamas in recent days, but a Hamas delegation from Damascus was heading to Cairo to hear what the Egyptians have to offer.

Egypt: Reviving talks key
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said reviving talks between the rivals is key to any cease-fire. Hamas and Abbas have been at odds since Hamas won 2006 parliament elections, and they view each other with distrust and even hatred.

Israel, for its part, won't be satisfied with bringing back EU monitors who lack policing powers.

Israel has been disappointed by the performance of international peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon under a cease-fire that ended its 2006 war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Israeli officials say Hezbollah has been amassing weapons, despite the presence of the observers.

As a result, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says international monitors on the Gaza border should be empowered to close tunnels used to smuggle weapons to Hamas from Egypt — broader powers than those apparently envisioned by Abbas and the Arabs.

Malki, Abbas' foreign minister, said there is broad Arab support for monitors at Gaza's crossings and the tunnels should be shut down, though he did not say who should be responsible.

"If you are talking about observers that will go and shut down tunnels, they are not really observers," Malki told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. "We are talking about observers that will observe and monitor the performance at the Arab crossings."

"Within this package, of course, the whole industry of tunnels should be really shut down and should be really closed, and this is really a part of the total objective," he added.

Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said physical obstacles on the Gaza-Egypt border should also be considered. Ideas floated in the past include scaffolding or concrete poured deep into the ground, he said.

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