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Palestinians Try to Halt Militant Attacks

Posted on: Saturday, 23 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

Facing a fresh storm of violence, Palestinian leaders said on Saturday that they would try to broker a new halt to attacks by extremist groups and urged Israel to stop killing top militants.

Chances for a new truce, however, looked dim and top Palestinian officials said privately that their hands were tied to try to stop what looked set to be an all-out war between Israel and Palestinian fighters.

Violence spiraled after a suicide bomber killed 20 people - among them six children - on a bus in Jerusalem this week, prompting Israel to kill a leader of the Hamas extremist group. A temporary cease-fire that had been declared two months ago by Hamas and two other groups dissolved under promises of more suicide bombings, and progress along a U.S.-backed peace plan broke down.

Israeli soldiers have retaken positions in and around Palestinian towns in the West Bank and have reappeared at key checkpoints in the Gaza Strip. Tanks are again patrolling eerily empty Palestinian streets to enforce curfews and hunt for suspects in attacks on Israelis.

The collapsed cease-fire had helped restore a relative calm to an area that has suffered quakes of violence over three years of renewed fighting.

Under prodding from Palestinian Authority and Egyptian officials, Hamas and Islamic Jihad had agreed on June 29 to halt for three months attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis. Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, towing its offshoot violent militia, agreed to a six month truce.

Though it was a unilateral Palestinian truce, Israel responded by scaling down military action and releasing a few hundred Palestinian prisoners. Militant groups, however, were enraged by Israel's continued hunt for their members in raids that have killed some suspects.

Now governing Palestinian leaders say they are hoping to discuss with extremist factions a new cease-fire to which Israel might also be asked to sign on.

Heading into a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said a cease-fire, known as a "hudna" in Arabic, only among militant groups was not enough.

"We want a hudna between all the Palestinian Authority and all its organizations and Israel," Shaath said. "We want a full stop to violence."

Another Cabinet minister, Ghassan Khatib, said efforts were underway to reopen talks with militants to try to rescue the truce.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza said the group did not object to the idea of renewed talks but said there was no chance for a new cease-fire as long as Israel is hunting militants.

"We don't have any conditions for any new dialogue," said Nafez Azzam, the Islamic Jihad official. But, he added, "I doubt that Israel is going to respect any new commitment."

Hamas officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.

While the Palestinians said what was needed were assurances from Israel that it would not kill militant leaders, Israeli officials maintained there was no other choice as long as the Palestinian Authority does not launch its own crackdown on extremists.

The "road map" peace plan, pushed by the United States and other international powers, demands Palestinians disarm and dismantle Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other violent groups.

The Palestinians refuse to do that, arguing such a confrontation could snowball into a civil war. Any Palestinian police action against militants is impossible while Israel is attacking the groups, Palestinians say.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered a methodical campaign of targeted killings of Hamas leaders after Tuesday's suicide bombing. Such strikes - criticized by Palestinians as assassinations - have killed dozens of terror suspects and as many bystanders.

"Israel hasn't closed the door on the road map," Israeli government spokesman Dore Gold said on Friday. "But there are really two possibilities: either the Palestinian Authority will begin to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure - or Israel will."

Israeli forces continued a stepped-up sweep for militants and weapons in the West Bank on Saturday. Tanks belching black smoke and swiveling their canons patrolled the town of Jenin. A few children chased after them, hurling rocks.

On Friday night, Israeli troops shot and killed a fugitive terror suspect who they spotted hiding out on the roof of a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Two other militants on the roof were critically wounded and were being treated at the hospital. Doctors said the gunmen took cover in the hospital just before Israeli forces entered the city on Wednesday and ignored pleas from staff to leave.

Troops initially surrounded the hospital asking for the wounded men to be handed over, but eventually withdrew the demand and left.

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