ISRAEL - Gaza blast clouds ceasfire hopes

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BBC Monday, 30 April, 2001, 12:28 GMT 13:28 UK

Gaza blast clouds ceasefire hopes

Hamas said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber One Palestinian worker has been killed and another wounded in an explosion apparently aimed at Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip.

The casualties were caused by a bomb placed in a settler's car, the Israeli army said. No settlers were injured.

The latest violence followed cautious optimism about a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis after a weekend of intensive diplomatic activity.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met the leaders of Egypt and Jordan on Sunday to discuss a joint initiative they proposed to end seven months of violence in the region.

He is expected in the United States on Monday to discuss the proposals with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

He is also scheduled to meet President George W Bush on Thursday.

The explosion came as the militant Islamic movement, Hamas, said one of its suicide bombers was responsible for a blast near a school bus carrying Jewish children in the West Bank on Sunday.

The alleged suicide bomber was killed, but no one else was injured.

In the light of the weekend talks, Israel has agreed to ease security measures imposed on Palestinians "immediately and unconditionally".

Mr Peres travelled to Egypt and Jordan to explain Israel's reservations about the plan, which the Palestinians insist must be accepted in its entirety to ensure an end to the violence.

Clashes continue

After meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mr Peres told Israeli television that he saw "the beginning of the possibility of getting out of the present deadlock".

While talks were going on, violence continued in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops shelled Palestinian areas and there was another mortar attack against a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

The attacks followed a Palestinian Authority announcement that it had acted to prevent further mortar attacks against Jewish settlements in Gaza, dissolving a committee of the Fatah political movement thought to be responsible.

An official in Gaza quoted the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as telling the council meeting: "The firing of mortar shells must stop."

But the BBC's Peter Biles in Jerusalem says Mr Arafat's calls appear to have been ignored.

Sympathy

In the Egyptian capital, Mr Peres expressed sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians who "pay a price because of terror and violence".

A BBC correspondent in Cairo says the mood after the meeting was very cautious with both Israel and Egypt making it clear that big differences remain.

Proposals put forward jointly by Egypt and Jordan envisage a series of confidence-building measures under which Israel would lift its siege of Palestinian-controlled areas and pull back its troops, in return for the Palestinians resuming security co-operation.

But Israel has reservations about certain aspects of the plan, particularly a blanket freeze on the building of Jewish settlements.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001


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