Sharon and Abbas talk as Israel suspends offensive

By Matthew Tostevin

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Sunday to meet
soon and improve cooperation as Israel suspended an offensive
after a halt to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Their first telephone conversation in over five weeks could
help put peacemaking back on track after a surge in violence
damaged hopes stirred by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza last
month, which ended end 38 years of military rule there.

Abbas called Sharon with greetings for the Jewish New Year,
which starts at sundown on Monday. Sharon expressed best wishes
for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, starting this week.

A statement from Sharon’s office said they “agreed to
tighten cooperation between them and to work together to
advance the process. They also agreed to meet soon in order to
advance various issues that are on the agenda.

“Both leaders expressed hope that the new year would be
more successful, a year of peace and hope,” it said.

Israeli and Palestinian officials said no date had been set
for a summit. A meeting had initially been pencilled in for
Sunday, but was canceled amid a surge in violence.

PALESTINIAN INFIGHTING ERUPTS

Hours after his conversation with Sharon, Abbas faced new
conflict on the home front, where Palestinian police traded
fire with Hamas militants in Gaza City, wounding five people,
medics and witnesses said.

Palestinian police were placed on high alert after some of
the worst internal fighting since Israel withdrew its army from
Gaza after demolishing all Jewish settlements there.

Abbas, under Israeli and U.S. pressure to clamp down on
militants, is struggling to assert control in the coastal
strip, home to 1.4 million Palestinians.

Palestinian police said Hamas gunmen had opened fire at
them at an intersection in Gaza City. Hamas said the police had
shot first and that two of its members had been arrested.

Witnesses said the shooting had spread to neighboring Hamas
strongholds, where militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at
Palestinian police stations, but caused no injury.

Israel scaled back its own offensive against militants
after five days without rocket fire from Gaza, to give Abbas a
chance to prevent attacks on Israel, Israeli security sources
said.

Abbas began deploying forces late last week to stop
fighters carrying weapons on Gaza streets and attacking Israel.

Israeli airstrikes prompted by rocket salvoes killed four
gunmen in Gaza last week. Israeli forces also raided the West
Bank to arrest hundreds of suspected militants. Five gunmen and
a teenager were killed during raids.

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed the Israeli
decision to scale back the offensive.

“We are committed to stop violence against the Israelis
anywhere,” he told Reuters. “We hope that the Israeli
announcement today will reflect an Israeli commitment to stop
violence against Palestinians everywhere.”

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza;
Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem)