Palestinian PM condemns attacks, seeks ceasefire

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Monday denounced new attacks by militant groups that threaten a US-led peace plan and vowed to press on with efforts to coax them back into ceasefire talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, also facing internal opposition to a US-backed peace "road map", was reported by Israel Radio to be ready to begin dismantling some settler outposts as early as Monday night despite the latest violence.

"We must exert all our efforts to stop this bloodbath and pursue a peaceful settlement," Abbas said after attacks on Sunday in which five Israeli soldiers were killed and troops shot dead five Palestinian gunmen.

However, the reformist premier, in his first full-scale news conference since taking office in April, seemed more intent on damage control in the face of criticism from Palestinians who say he was too conciliatory at a US-led summit last week.

He appealed to the militant Islamic group Hamas for a resumption of ceasefire talks that it broke off after his three-way meeting with US President George W Bush and Sharon in Jordan.

Referring to his efforts to persuade militants to halt attacks against Israelis, he said: "For us there is no alternative to dialogue."

Meanwhile, Sharon was moving cautiously on his promise made at the Aqaba summit to begin removing makeshift settler outposts built on occupied land in the West Bank.

Israel's Defence Ministry said it planned to meet settler leaders to negotiate the peaceful evacuation of "unauthorised" outposts, mostly sparsely populated clusters of caravans placed on hilltops. Israel Radio said that if no agreement was reached, the army would start taking down the outposts later on Monday.

Sharon, a long-time champion of settlement building, withstood jeering from rightists at a meeting of his Likud party on Sunday when he defended his recognition of the need for a Palestinian state made at the Aqaba summit.

The mood at the party conference was soured further by attacks in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Hebron that threatened efforts to implement the road map, which outlines reciprocal steps leading to a Palestinian state by 2005.

Israel has demanded Abbas crack down on militants, but Abbas has preferred negotiation to avoid sparking civil war.

Condemning the latest attacks, Abbas said: "We reject these acts and if they continue they will complicate the situation and make the peace process difficult."

Hamas, which has carried out suicide bombings in Israel as part of a 32-month-old uprising for independence, had accused Abbas of making too many concessions at last week's summit.

Senior Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said the group's leaders were meeting to decide on a reaction to Abbas' latest comments.

Abbas used the news conference to address some of the criticisms voiced by Palestinians since the summit. He appealed for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and to ease the suffering caused by closures of West Bank towns and villages.

"We demand President Bush completes what he started in Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba, alleviates the suffering of our people, starting with the prisoners, stops closures," Abbas said.

- REUTERS