By PHIL REEVES
GAZA CITY - A sudden breakthrough in the Middle East conflict and in the United States' task of building a war coalition appeared to have been made yesterday when the Palestinians and Israel announced ceasefires.
The moves were welcomed by America, the United Nations and European diplomats, who believe they will help the Bush Administration to secure much-needed Arab and Islamic participation in the "alliance against terror".
But whether the ceasefire will last for long is unclear. Sporadic violence last night in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip underscored the challenges ahead of bringing about a permanent truce. There were several exchanges of gunfire and Israeli officials said Palestinians threw 10 grenades at an Israeli Army outpost near the Egyptian border.
The militant Palestinian groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas said they would continue to attack Israeli targets.
Colin Powell, the United States Secretary of State, earlier said he was "encouraged" by the ceasefire, which came after a week of growing international exasperation with Israel for stepping up its military operations against the Palestinians in the aftermath of the US atrocities, not least by sending tanks into Palestinian towns.
Yesterday after an announcement from the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, that he would instruct his security forces to "act intensively in securing a ceasefire on all fronts, and in every town and village" Israeli tanks pulled out of the Palestinian-ruled city of Jenin, which they had repeatedly occupied. Some pulled out of Jericho.
Arafat made his announcement at a meeting that he had called with diplomats from 35 countries. Speaking at his headquarters in Gaza City, he said: "The Palestinians want peace with the Israelis. They don't want war." He said the aim was to "build a comprehensive, durable and just peace with Israel on the basis of a political solution".
Shortly afterwards, Israel reciprocated with an announcement from Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Defence Minister, that he was ordering a halt to all military operations against the Palestinians except in "immediate self-defence". The cessation was widely assumed to include assassinations of suspected paramilitary activists, wrecking raids into Palestinian-controlled areas and tank and missile attacks.
Only a few hours earlier, five Israeli tanks and a bulldozer had driven into an area south of Gaza City where a seaport is under construction with the help of the French and the Dutch, tearing down the fence and destroying buildings.
Shimon Peres, Israel's Foreign Minister, said he was confident that he would hold formal truce talks with Arafat very soon. A meeting with Arafat was called off last weekend on Sharon's orders, to the annoyance of President George W. Bush.
The day's events have abruptly improved Bush's chances of building an American-led war coalition including Arab and Muslim countries.
Arafat has announced ceasefires before, but yesterday's declaration was seen as far more significant. He made it in Arabic, a fact that pleased Israel, which frequently accuses him of speaking differently to the international community than to fellow Palestinians.
The staging was replete with a strong political subtext. As he addressed the television cameras, representatives of the UN, the US and the European Union, the three chief brokers of the deal, stood clustered behind him, all within the eye of the lens. For once, the world was at his side.
In signing up for the American "alliance against terrorism", Arafat is acknowledging the huge change of political climate brought about by the destruction at the World Trade Center. But, more importantly, he has also deftly turned to his advantage the international concerns that the Palestinian issue, especially the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, could fracture the US coalition.
Jordan, Egypt and many others in the Arab and Islamic world have made clear that the coalition will be difficult to join while the conflict rages on, cranking up emotions at street level where hatred of Israel and its American allies runs high.
This gave Arafat the opportunity for diplomatic gains with Washington, which until a week ago was showing signs of impatience towards him. By moving first, he also stole a march on Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose conduct in the last week has appalled the White House and others.
Western diplomatic sources say Bush was furious over Sharon's crudely opportunistic attempts to equate the massive attacks on America in which nearly 6000 people have died with Israel's experience in its conflict with the Palestinians, by branding Arafat as Israel's "bin Laden". There have been helicopter missile strikes on Gaza and an announcement by the Israeli Army that next week it will establish a 32km-long closed military area on Palestinian land along the northwest edge of the West Bank.
Within the past week, 26 Palestinians have been killed, and six Israelis. All previous truces over the past year have fallen apart in days. But it is hard to see how Israelis and Palestinians can progress far with peace negotiations, other than more interim agreements, given the gulf that divides them over fundamental issues.
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, REUTERS
Map: Opposing forces in the war against terror
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