Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs met overnight to discuss ways of stanching 17 months of bloodshed as a Saudi peace initiative for the Middle East gained momentum with US and European interest.
No details were immediately available from the US-mediated meeting in Tel Aviv, which had been called off earlier this week due to Palestinian fury over an Israeli decision to keep Palestinian President Yasser Arafat confined to the West Bank city of Ramallah.
An Israeli political source said Israeli officials would urge Palestinians to curb a militant group tied to Arafat's Fatah faction which has claimed responsibility for a recent spate of attacks on Israelis.
Numerous international efforts to broker a truce have so far failed to quell the fighting in which more than 1,100 people have been killed since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000.
But a surprise peace initiative by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah picked up speed on Tuesday with praise from President Bush for its vision of Israeli-Arab normalization.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana cut short a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories and planned to go to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss the plan, which calls for an Israeli withdrawal from lands it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war in exchange for Arab recognition of the Jewish state.
SHARON SAID INTERESTED IN SAUDI PROPOSAL
Solana told reporters in Jerusalem on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was interested in the initiative and was ready to meet Saudi officials to discuss its details.
Sharon "would like to know more about the content and he would be ready to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia, formally, informally, publicly, discreetly, whatever, to get better information about this initiative," Solana said after meeting the Israeli leader.
Arafat said he "appreciated and supported completely" Abdullah's efforts.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush praised the ideas in a conversation with the crown prince on Tuesday, noting normalization would follow agreement on "a comprehensive peace agreement."
The overnight Palestinian-Israeli security talks were held amid new incidents of violence.
Israeli police said a device exploded near a bus traveling on a West Bank road outside Jerusalem, causing no injuries. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is linked to Fatah, claimed responsibility for the blast in a telephone call.
Israeli troops imposed a curfew on a Palestinian village near a main route used by Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian sources said.
Israeli military sources said the curfew was limited to areas adjacent to the road and followed warnings of an imminent attack.
(China Daily February 27, 2002)
