Israel, Palestinians Welcome US Plan
Fri May 3,11:18 PM ET
By HADEEL WAHDAN, Associated Press Writer
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Israel and the Palestinians on Friday cautiously welcomed a U.S. plan for an international Mideast conference, and the Palestinian Cabinet met for the first time since Israel's military offensive.
In new West Bank fighting, two Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed.
As local Orthodox Christians marked Good Friday, the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem entered its second month with no sign of a break. Foreign activists who sneaked into the compound Thursday said about 150 Palestinians were inside and that food had run out.
The peace conference was proposed Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), with the backing of the United Nations (news - web sites), the European Union (news - web sites) and Russia.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) will meet with President Bush (news - web sites) in Washington next week. His advisers said he plans to propose that the terms of a long-term interim deal with the Palestinians be worked out at a regional conference attended by Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and moderate Arab states.
Both Israel and the Palestinians said they need to hear more about the proposed conference before deciding whether to take part.
The gathering would be held at the level of foreign ministers, avoiding the issue of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s attendance. Sharon has branded Arafat a terrorist and has said he does not consider him a partner in negotiations.
Arafat, released from Israeli confinement this week, said he would consult with Arab leaders. Arab League foreign ministers will meet in Cairo next week. It was not clear whether Arafat would attend, as he has in the past. The Palestinian leader has not been abroad since Israel grounded him in December by destroying his helicopters in airstrikes.
On Friday evening, Arafat convened his Cabinet for the first time since Israel launched its military offensive March 29 and occupied the main West Bank towns for periods ranging from days to several weeks to crush Palestinian militias involved in attacks on Israelis.
Addressing repeated U.S. demands that Palestinians do more to prevent terror attacks on Israelis, the Cabinet said that it "rejects and condemns all operations against civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis" and that it condemns "all forms of terror, whether terror coming from individuals, groups or state terror."
Nabil Amr, minister of parliamentary affairs, submitted his resignation amid growing calls for government reform in the wake of Israel's offensive.
Only Bethlehem remained under Israeli control Friday.
However, Israeli troops have carried out daily arrest raids in Palestinian territory, including on Friday when commandos swooped down on a Hamas hide-out in Nablus, killing an activist of the Islamic militant group. An Israeli soldier was also killed in the operation, and a Palestinian policeman was killed elsewhere in the West Bank city by Israeli fire, Palestinian security officials said.
The Israeli raid began at about 4 a.m. and ended some five hours later. Heavy gunfire erupted when Israeli forces converged on a three-story building on the edge of Nablus' Old City, the scene of fierce fighting last month between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen.
The targeted building was in Nablus' main commercial district, and about 16 surrounding shops were destroyed in the fighting, residents said. They said they cowered in inner rooms of their apartments as the Israelis fired tank shells and heavy machine guns. The army said two bomb factories were found in the building, as well as a car full of weapons.
At the Palestinian Cabinet meeting, ministers discussed the fate of two senior officials — Ahmed Saadat and Fuad Shobaki — who are being imprisoned as part of a U.S.-brokered deal that led to Arafat's release from Israeli confinement Thursday.
Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they expected the two to be freed soon. They said that under the U.S. deal, the fate of Saadat and Shobaki was left in the hands of the Palestinian legal system.
Israeli officials disputed the claim, saying they were assured by the United States that the two would remain locked up as a condition for freeing Arafat.
Israel had initially demanded the extradition of Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Shobaki, a senior Arafat aide. Israel accuses Saadat of masterminding the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in October, and alleges Shobaki financed a large shipment of illegal weapons.
Saadat and Shobaki are being held, along with the four convicted Zeevi assassins, in a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho, with experts sent by the United States and Britain supervising the detention.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that "the arrangement is to keep these people in custody." He said anything other than that would have to be discussed.
In Bethlehem, four Palestinian policemen, weakened by lack of food, emerged Friday from the basilica built over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. One was treated at an Israeli hospital, and three were being questioned, the military said.
Israel is insisting that the approximately 30 armed Palestinians who have been inside the church since April 2 surrender or accept exile. Palestinian officials had proposed taking them to the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
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