Cautious steps to security deal

GAZA - Israelis and Palestinians edged towards a security deal in efforts to save a roadmap to peace yesterday, but there were no signs that Islamic militants were embracing the plan after a week of violence.

Israeli and Palestinian security officials met late into the night to discuss possible Israeli troop withdrawals from northern Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem in exchange for a Palestinian pledge to rein in militants there.

Officials have said a deal was shaping up for the partial Israeli withdrawal after earlier talks between Israeli Major-General Amos Gilad and Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan.

Egypt and the United States were trying to help. Egyptian security officials yesterday sought to persuade militants to resume talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on ending attacks on Israelis.

US President George W Bush's envoy, veteran diplomat John Wolf, met Israeli domestic security chief Avi Dichter and Dov Weisglass, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on Sunday.

Hamas officials said they remained opposed to the US-backed roadmap but would study the ideas presented by Egyptian officials.

"The roadmap does not represent the ambitions of the Palestinian people, and the enemy is using it as a basis for ending the uprising," said Ismail Haniyah, of Hamas, in Gaza after the group met Egyptian mediators.

"Hamas emphasised the right of our people to self-defence and to resisting the occupation until they gain their full rights."

Egypt's mediators were expected to hold further talks with Hamas and other militant groups in order to preserve Abbas' authority among Palestinians seething from Israeli air strikes that have killed more than 20 Palestinians in the past week.

A leading US Republican lawmaker said US forces might have to help "root out terrorism" in the Middle East, including taking aim at Hamas.

In an interview on Fox News, Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said American forces could be used to quell Israeli and Palestinian disputes "and, maybe even more important, to root out the terrorism that is at the heart of the problem".

Israel firmly opposes such intervention.

- REUTERS