Israelis waiting for truce to hold

JERUSALEM - Israel saw a slim chance for a Palestinian ceasefire to take effect amid international efforts yesterday to bolster the truce called by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

"At this moment ... we are walking on a very tight rope," Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on television.

"There is a reasonable chance for the good of all the sides that the ceasefire will succeed.

But it could collapse, "and that will be to the detriment of all."

The brittle truce was already under threat last night after mortar attacks on a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

An Army spokesman said the shells, fired from the Palestinian area of Dir Balah, caused neither casualties nor damage in the Kfar Darom settlement.

Earlier, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arafat separately that he hoped an end to hostilities would take hold within two days.

Sharon decided to hold back on reprisals for Friday's Palestinian suicide attack in which the bomber killed 20 people outside a Tel Aviv nightclub.

The restraint followed Arafat's pledge to do his utmost to achieve a ceasefire.

But the pressure to strike was high as Israelis mourned those killed in the deadliest attack inside the country since a Palestinian revolt against Israeli occupation erupted last September in the wake of stalled peace talks.

Sharon demanded that Arafat take steps immediately to halt the fighting, including arresting Palestinian militants.

Fischer said he found willingness to end hostilities.

"We have got two days [to implement the ceasefire]," he said. "I don't know whether this will be a sustainable development.

"The situation is extremely serious and the alternative would be a tragic confrontation."

The two sides blame each other for the surge in violence. At least 450 Palestinians, 110 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in the past eight months.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned both leaders several times during the weekend and urged Arafat to show "action on the ground."

Powell said he was ready "at some point" to go to the Middle East.

Russia said it would send an envoy to the region and European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos began new mediation efforts.

Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said there was a real effort by the United States, EU and the United Nations to make the ceasefire work.

- REUTERS

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