U.S security adviser meets Palestinian, Israeli premiers

JERICHO, West Bank -- Seeking to advance a U.S.-backed peace plan, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice held talks with the Palestinian prime minister on Saturday, a day ahead of an expected truce announcement by Palestinian militants.

Rice's first stop was in the West Bank city of Jericho, where she and Abbas met at a plush hotel. Before the meeting, Abbas said he would press her for guarantees on the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Rice will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today, when militant groups are planning a formal announcement that they are halting attacks against Israelis for three months. However, some militants suggested the announcement might be delayed a day.

Together with a preliminary agreement by Israel to withdraw troops from the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Bethlehem, a truce could provide a major boost to the "road map" peace plan launched by President Bush at a June 4 Mideast summit.

Militants agreed to truce

Violence has plagued attempts to implement the road map, a blueprint to end 33 months of fighting and establish a Palestinian state by 2005. On Saturday, at least one vehicle in a convoy of U.S. diplomatic cars traveling in Gaza was damaged after two explosive devices blew up, Israel's military said. No injuries were reported and U.S. embassy officials refused to comment or give more details.

The Syrian-based leaders of the two main Islamic groups, Islamic Jihad and the larger Hamas group, agreed to a truce earlier in the week, according to a Palestinian legislator involved in the negotiations. But Gaza-based militants initially denied there was a deal, then said details remained to be worked out.

"We have accepted a conditional cease-fire for three months," Mohammed al-Hindi, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, told The Associated Press on Saturday, in the first on-the-record confirmation of the truce from a militant leader.

Ramadan Shalah, the main Islamic Jihad leader based in Damascus, told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya satellite channel that Islamic Jihad "has agreed with the Hamas movement and the Fatah movement to suspend military operations" against Israel. He said he expects an announcement today.

Hamas leaders also have said they agreed to a truce but will only formally declare their acceptance in a joint document still being finalized.

The truce, first reported by the AP on Wednesday, applies to the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Israel, fulfilling a key Israeli demand.

A formal announcement is expected today, but Al-Hindi said it could be put off until Monday, if necessary.

Intensive meetings continued Saturday among Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction to work out the final wording of the truce announcement.

There also were efforts to bring 10 smaller factions on board. At least one of them, the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, appeared to be holding out approval, a Palestinian negotiator said on condition of anonymity.

A number of West Bank leaders, speaking in the name of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, also complained in a statement that they had not been consulted on the deal. The Brigades are loosely linked to Fatah.

It remains to be seen whether all militants will comply with a truce announcement. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in particular are composed of many rebellious armed gangs scattered throughout the West Bank and thought to be difficult to control.

Israel and the United States also have given the emerging truce a lukewarm response, saying armed groups should be dismantled as required by the road map. Palestinian officials fear a crackdown could trigger a civil war and have opted instead for persuasion.

The White House welcomed a preliminary agreement Friday to turn over security responsibility in Gaza and Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority, calling it a "first significant joint step toward implementation of commitments" Israeli and Palestinian leaders made at the summit with Bush.

The road map requires that Israeli forces gradually withdraw to positions held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000.

Israel was "cautiously optimistic" about the pullback arrangements, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yonatan Peled said Saturday, but expected the Palestinian Authority to "keep a lid on terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip."

The deal, reached in talks between Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan and Israel's Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad, came with a pledge by Israel to halt targeted killings of wanted Palestinians -- one of the militants' key demands for continuing with a truce.

Palestinians in turn agreed to act against what Israel calls "ticking bombs" -- assailants on their way to attack Israelis. But Peled said Israel reserved the right to go after assailants themselves if Palestinians failed to do so.

Arafat's Fatah approved the deal at its weekly Saturday meeting. Details of how to implement it were to be worked out at meetings today in Gaza and Bethlehem.

The progress in negotiations was accompanied by mounting pressure by Palestinians for guarantees regarding the release of prisoners.

A noisy crowd gathered outside of Abbas' office Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah, demanding he raise the issue with Rice.

Plunging into the crowd, Abbas demanded a loudspeaker and shouted: "There will be no peace or security if even one Palestinian prisoner remains behind bars. Be sure that we will exert our utmost in order to empty all prisons of prisoners."

Peled said Israel already has released some prisoners as a good-will gesture and was "definitely willing" to release more, "but only after we see some steps, some action, some responsibility" taken by Abbas.

Rice planned to continue talks with Palestinian officials today, while lower-level U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials held separate trilateral meetings.

She is due to meet today with Sharon and, separately, with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.