Fresh talks amid mourning in the Middle East

JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinians, taking a step back from confrontation, held United States-hosted security talks after bombings rocked Israeli towns and Israeli gunfire killed a boy at one of the funerals.

"It was decided to make an effort to lower the level of violence and improve security cooperation," the Israeli Army said after the meeting yesterday, attended by Palestinian West Bank security chiefs and their Israeli counterparts.

There was no immediate Palestinian comment after the two sides met at the Tel Aviv residence of the US Ambassador to Israel.

The session, following similar talks on Sunday, signalled that neither side had slammed the door on dialogue in the face of a two-week-long surge in violence.

On a separate track, Israel said it was still considering an Egyptian-Jordanian plan aimed at ending seven months of bloodshed and resuming peace talks with the Palestinians.

"The Egyptian-Jordanian initiative is a deserving one, and it is being examined now," Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told reporters. "It requires several changes, which we are prepared to propose."

In the latest Palestinian attack in the Israeli heartland, a car bomb packed with nails exploded yesterday in Or Yehuda, a town near Tel Aviv's international airport. Eight people were slightly wounded.

In Gaza, Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops shot at mourners attending the funeral of a Palestinian policeman, killed by Israeli fire last week.

As the body was being lowered into the ground at the Khan Yunis cemetery, next to a Jewish settlement, several dozen Palestinian gunmen fired 21 shots into the air as a sign of respect, said Eyad Saadoni, a maths teacher. The Israeli military said the shots were directed at the settlement, drawing return fire.

Bursts of gunfire came from the direction of the nearby settlement, which is protected by an Israeli Army post, said Saadoni and other witnesses.

Palestinian mourners scattered in panic, with women and children running through the streets, many seeking shelter in abandoned buildings.

"Some were trying to take cover," Saadoni said. "Some of them were kneeling next to the grave. Others covered their heads with their hands. Then I saw the wounded child collapse."

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhanad Muhareb, was shot just above the left eye and died, and 11 Palestinians were wounded, including one who was in critical condition, according to doctors at Khan Yunis Hospital.

Meanwhile, Israel suffered its third bomb blast in two days when a car bomb exploded yesterday, slightly injuring four people in the working-class town of Or Yehuda, east of Tel Aviv.

In a telephone call, a man claimed responsibility on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical Palestinian faction.

On Sunday, a Palestinian militant detonated a bomb near a bus in the town of Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, killing himself and an Israeli doctor and wounding 50 people.

The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility and identified the bomber as 18-year-old Imad Zubadi.

At his home in the West Bank town of Nablus, Zubadi's mother said her son was scheduled to take his final high school exams in a few days, but she was proud he had become "a martyr."

The doctor killed in the attack, 53-year-old Mario Golden, was buried yesterday. Hundreds attended the funeral.

President Yasser Arafat, asked about Israeli accusations that his Palestinian Authority held overall responsibility for such attacks, said: "We are against any operation targeting civilians, whether they are Israelis or Palestinians."

Israeli police warned the public to expect more attacks as Saturday approached - Israel's 53rd independence day.

"We are in the middle of a difficult period that will not end in a week or two, but can go on for a month or two," said national police chief Shlomo Aharonishky. "We have to take a deep breath."

The death toll in seven months of violence has now reached at least 385 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 74 other Israelis.

In a sign of growing international concern, an Israeli official said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would travel to Washington this weekend for talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique was to hold talks in Jerusalem late yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Pique, who earlier met Arafat, was expected to discuss the Egyptian-Jordanian proposal with Sharon. Arafat supports the ideas, which call for ending nearly seven months of Israeli-Palestinian violence, rebuilding confidence and resuming dialogue.

- REUTERS

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