ISRAEL: Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon discussed the idea of a gradual ceasefire with a senior Palestinian negotiator last Wednesday, it emerged over the weekend, but the Israeli leader remained adamant that substantial diplomatic progress depended on the sidelining of Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat.
The Israeli leader's sudden desire to meet Palestinian officials, after a year-long hiatus, appeared in no small measure to be driven also by a need to position himself favorably with the US and at the same time entice a reticent Labor Party, which is unconvinced about Mr Sharon's peacemaking intentions, into a broad-based unity coalition.
Despite the revived talk of a truce, three Palestinians were killed yesterday after they drove their explosives-laden car into a cement barrier next to an Israeli army outpost in the Gaza Strip, and blew up. Four soldiers were slightly hurt in the attempted suicide attack, for which the militant Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
In secret talks last week, the prime minister told Mr Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala), the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament, he would not talk to Mr Arafat, and that a resumption of the diplomatic process was dependent on an end to Palestinian violence.
As an initial step, however, Mr Sharon floated the idea of an Israeli troop withdrawal from areas where Palestinian security forces could impose calm. Numerous cease-fire attempts in the 28-month conflict have foundered, including one along very similar lines to that being offered by the Israeli leader. Last year troops withdrew from Bethlehem and then Hebron on condition the Palestinians clamped down on militants in those areas.
But, within a short time the soldiers were back. After an ambush which killed 12 Israelis, nine of them soldiers, near Hebron in mid-November, and a suicide attack that killed 11 people in Jerusalem a few days later, troops reoccupied both West Bank cities.
While Mr Arafat said he backed the renewal of contacts - there were other meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials last week as well - most Palestinian officials played them down.
Cabinet Minister Mr Saeb Erekat described them as nothing more than "brainstorming". Palestinian Authority official, Mr Sufyan Abu Zaideh, dismissed the Israeli leader's initiative as an attempt to "appease" the Americans and the Labor Party.
The contacts, though, appear to serve both sides. Mr Arafat hopes a display of willingness to talk about an end to violence, might begin to repair his shattered image in the White House. After Mr Sharon's crushing victory in the January 28th election, Palestinian leaders have also said they have no choice but to try to engage him.
For Mr Sharon, who was officially asked yesterday by President Moshe Katsav to form a government, the cease-fire talk indicates to the US he is not unwilling to engage the Palestinians. But Mr Dov Weisglass, a senior aide to the prime minister, made it clear he expects efforts to remove Mr Arafat to be accelerated once the US-Iraq showdown is resolved.