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Top-Level Mideast Security Talks Resume
Palestinians carry the body of Hamas militant Fuad Ledawi, killed in an Israeli airstrike Friday night, in a Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza mosque Saturday, June 14, 2003. Israel proposes halting missile strikes and other military operations for three days, starting Sunday, to allow Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to resume contacts with Hamas and other militant groups and persuade them to halt attacks on Israel, an official said.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

08:54 AM EST June 14, 2003
The Associated Press


JERUSALEM

Israel and the Palestinians are resuming top-level security talks despite a bloody week of bombings and missile strikes that left 60 people dead on both sides, officials said Saturday.

On the table is a proposal that Israel withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip to positions held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, officials on both sides said.

Israel also offered to halt military operations for three days to improve the atmosphere, a senior Palestinian official said.

Despite the planned talks, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a hard-line Hamas leader, said Saturday his Islamic militant group would not halt its attacks against Israel.

"The word cease-fire is not in our dictionary," he said. "Resistance will continue until we uproot them from our home land."

Israeli officials said the Palestinian security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, would meet later Saturday with Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, while Israel Radio said Israel would be represented in the talks by Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad, a senior defense official.

Dahlan said that there were no plans yet for a meeting. However, Palestinian sources said the security chief was to meet late Saturday with Gilad and Avi Dichter, the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service. Mofaz might also join the talks, the sources said.

It would be the first high-level meeting since President Bush launched the "road map" peace plan at a Mideast summit last week.

The security talks would coincide with the arrival of the first contingent of U.S. monitors who are to supervise implementation of the peace plan. The team of 10 to 15 CIA and State Department officials is headed by John Wolf, an assistant secretary of state.

Under the peace plan, Israel is to withdraw gradually from territory it reoccupied in the past 32 months of fighting, while the Palestinians are required to dismantle militias, including Hamas.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said that under the latest proposal, Israel would withdraw from large areas of Gaza and two West Bank cities. The two sides would also make a new cease-fire declaration, Abed Rabbo said.

The Palestinian leadership is willing to take over security control in the areas the Israelis hand over, Information Minister Nabil Amr said.

Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Israel has "submitted a plan ... relinquishing security control over parts of Gaza and handing it over to full control of the Palestinian Authority and Dahlan's security forces."

He said the plan would be discussed in Saturday's talks.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in the past rejected the idea of taking over security control - making the Palestinians responsible for stopping anti-Israeli attacks - saying he wanted to persuade Hamas and the other militants first to halt attacks on Israelis.

However, Hamas broke off truce talks with Abbas last week, and violence has only escalated, with 36 Palestinians and 24 Israelis killed since the Mideast summit.

In recent days, Israel carried out seven missile strikes against Hamas targets, including a failed attempt on Rantisi's life. Hamas blew up a Jerusalem bus to avenge Rantisi and carried out a number of other attacks.

Israel has said it is widening its campaign against Hamas and will target top leaders, among them Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in addition to members of the military wing.

The Israeli army said it had thwarted a planned suicide attack Saturday and arrested a wanted Palestinian in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Troops discovered two explosives belts and detonated them, the army said.

Hospital officials there said three Palestinian teenagers were lightly wounded in clashes with Israeli troops.

Despite the deterioration in peace negotiations, behind-the-scenes contacts continued in recent days. The United States and Egypt stepped up mediation efforts, while Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayad talked by phone to Dov Weisglass, a senior Sharon aide.

Abed Rabbo said a high-level delegation of Egyptian security officials would arrive in Gaza on Sunday to meet with Hamas officials.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and other senior representatives of the so-called Quartet that drew up the road map - the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union - are to hold talks in Jordan next week.

Amr, the Palestinian information minister, said another road map meeting was to be held in Saudi Arabia in 10 days, with officials from the United States, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

 
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