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Israel and Palestinians in pursuit of security deal
Jerusalem, June 16: Israelis and Palestinians pursued a security deal yesterday focused on an Israeli troop pullback in return for a crackdown on Islamic militants after a week of violence that battered a US-backed peace plan.
Jerusalem, June 16: Israelis and Palestinians pursued a security deal yesterday focused on an Israeli troop pullback in return for a crackdown on Islamic militants after a week of violence that battered a US-backed peace plan.
In another challenge to the ''road map'' affirmed at a June 4 peace summit in Jordan, Jewish settlers have quietly set up five new outposts in the occupied West Bank since Israel began dismantling such sites last week, a monitoring group said.
The United States and Egypt, concerned about the killing of more than 50 people in Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past week, sent envoys to try to move the plan along.
A deal was shaping up for an Israeli troop withdrawal from the Northern Gaza strip and the West Bank city of Bethlehem in exchange for a Palestinian authority pledge to assume security control of the two areas and rein in militants, officials said.
Israeli major-general Amos Gilad and Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan broached the deal in talks Saturday, and Israel's defence ministry said subordinates would work out details in Sunday night meetings.
Earlier Palestinian officials said Gilad and Dahlan would continue face-to-face contacts, but Israel denied this.
The United States has appealed for restraint from both sides after a surge of bloodshed that included the killing of four soldiers in Gaza, a Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus and seven Israeli air strikes on militants.
U.S. President George W. Bush's envoy, veteran diplomat John Wolf, met Israeli domestic security chief Avi Dichter and Dov Weisglass, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Saturday.
Bush followed this on Sunday with a blast at the Islamic militant group Hamas, which has been behind much of the anti-Israeli violence and rejects peace proposals.
Bureau Report
In another challenge to the ''road map'' affirmed at a June 4 peace summit in Jordan, Jewish settlers have quietly set up five new outposts in the occupied West Bank since Israel began dismantling such sites last week, a monitoring group said.
The United States and Egypt, concerned about the killing of more than 50 people in Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past week, sent envoys to try to move the plan along.
A deal was shaping up for an Israeli troop withdrawal from the Northern Gaza strip and the West Bank city of Bethlehem in exchange for a Palestinian authority pledge to assume security control of the two areas and rein in militants, officials said.
Israeli major-general Amos Gilad and Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan broached the deal in talks Saturday, and Israel's defence ministry said subordinates would work out details in Sunday night meetings.
Earlier Palestinian officials said Gilad and Dahlan would continue face-to-face contacts, but Israel denied this.
The United States has appealed for restraint from both sides after a surge of bloodshed that included the killing of four soldiers in Gaza, a Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus and seven Israeli air strikes on militants.
U.S. President George W. Bush's envoy, veteran diplomat John Wolf, met Israeli domestic security chief Avi Dichter and Dov Weisglass, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Saturday.
Bush followed this on Sunday with a blast at the Islamic militant group Hamas, which has been behind much of the anti-Israeli violence and rejects peace proposals.
Bureau Report