Egypt resumes Mideast referee role
BY MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Egypt will send its intelligence chief to the Palestinian areas next week in a renewed effort to halt attacks on Israel, Palestinian officials said today.
The visit by Gen. Omar Suleiman comes amid growing Palestinian concerns that Israel will impose its own borders on the West Bank if peace efforts break down.
With Egyptian backing, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has been trying to persuade rebel groups to commit to a truce as a step toward resuming peace talks with Israel. Suleiman has led the Egyptian mediation efforts.
His visit next week follows a meeting Thursday between Egyptian presidential envoy Osama el-Baz and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
During the talks, Egypt agreed to a request from Arafat to resume its mediation efforts with the militant groups, said Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian minister of negotiations. A date for Suleiman's trip hasn't been set, he added.
Egyptian officials weren't available for comment today.
The ceasefire efforts come at a sensitive time. Israel this week carried out an unsuccessful missile strike in the Gaza Strip aimed at two members of Hamas, which in turn vowed revenge.
The previous week, Israel killed three Islamic Jihad fighters in a similar air strike, while a Palestinian suicide bomber killed four Israelis near Tel Aviv.
Israel has also been carrying out raids aimed at fighters in the West Bank city of Nablus and Gaza town of Rafah in recent weeks.
On Friday night, a large roadside bomb blew up next to an Israeli military jeep in Nablus, causing no injuries, the army said. The blast reverberated throughout the city, knocking out power in the immediate area, witnesses said.
El-Baz on Thursday pressed Arafat to lead the way toward ending three years of violence with Israel, saying he is hopeful Israel will respond positively.
"We, from our side, should take decisions and measures that can lead the way to a better future," el-Baz said. "Then, we hope the Israelis will do the same."
Since taking office in October, Qureia has made a truce a top priority. But the efforts have so far been unsuccessful. Egyptian-sponsored talks in Cairo last month ended without agreement.
A truce commitment by the Palestinians could pave the way toward full-fledged negotiations on the U.S.-backed "road map" — a peace plan that envisions an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
The road map requires the Palestinians to disarm rebels and the Israelis to freeze settlement construction — steps neither side has taken.
Palestinian groups have been reluctant to commit to a truce, citing Israel's continuing military operations. On Friday, some 4,000 people joined a demonstration sponsored by Islamic Jihad in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza.
The rally marked the death of military wing leader Meklad Hameid, who was killed in last week's Israeli air strike.
Dozens of protesters wore T-shirts with Hameid's picture, and about 300 uniformed gunmen marched with rocket launchers, mortars and machine-guns.
Islamic Jihad leader Nafez Azam blamed Israel for the failure to reach a ceasefire.
"Everything depends on the occupation. In the Cairo dialogue, we offered to spare civilians the agonies of war and the answer we received was the invasion of Rafah, the resumption of air strikes and killings all over the occupied lands," he said.
Sharon said last month that if there is no progress on the road map, he would move to unilaterally redraw the lines between Israel and the Palestinians.
While Sharon said his plan would include the removal of some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, he said the Palestinians would receive far more land under a negotiated settlement.
Israel is also building a contentious separation barrier in the West Bank. Israel says the barrier is needed to block suicide bombers; the Palestinians say it is a land grab.
A senior Palestinian official told The Associated Press on Thursday that there are growing concerns among the Palestinian leadership about Sharon's threatened go-it-alone plan.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military lifted a more than four-month-long blockade on the West Bank town of Jenin on Friday, allowing residents to travel in and out of the town, the army said. Troops had encircled the town since an Aug. 17 suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
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