U.S. envoys meet Sharon, plan to see Arafat

U.S. envoys meet Sharon, plan to see Arafat

JERUSALEM (Reuters): U.S. diplomats held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday as the United States took initial steps to give shape to a plan to end months of Israeli- Palestinian bloodshed.

A U.S. official said Sharon, U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and U.S. Consul-General Ron Schlicher met for more than two hours "to develop a framework and timetable for implementation of the Mitchell commission" report.

The report, released on Monday by a panel chaired by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, calls for an immediate cessation of violence followed by confidence-building measures and a resumption of security cooperation and peace negotiations.

Differences have quickly emerged between the Palestinians and Israelis on the Mitchell recommendations, which include a call -- rejected by right-winger Sharon -- for a freeze in the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

An official in Sharon's office said the Israeli leader had told the Americans that Israel wanted a two-month "cooling-off period" of calm on the ground before undertaking moves to restore trust between the warring sides.

Sharon's office said he would make a policy statement on the Mitchell report and "other issues" at 8 p.m. (midnight in Jakarta).

The U.S. official said the American diplomats expected to see Palestinian President Yasser Arafat later in the day to discuss the committee's recommendations. An Arafat aide, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said no meeting had been scheduled.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has endorsed the committee's findings and announced the appointment of a "special assistant", the U.S. ambassador to Jordan, William Burns, to help the sides step back from eight months of confrontation.

Since Israel unleashed F-16 jets against Palestinian targets last Friday, the international community has piled pressure on both sides to end violence that has taken more than 500 lives during an eight-month-old revolt against Israeli occupation.

Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, a senior aide to Arafat, accused Israel of using stalling tactics and said its security would best be achieved by "implementing international law and United Nations resolutions".

He was referring to Jewish settlements, illegal under international law, and to Israeli occupation of land in the West Bank and Gaza since the 1967 Middle East war.

"Talking about two months as a cooling-off period is a well- known Israeli mechanism to (buy time) to expand settlements," Abdel-Rahman said.

At least 444 Palestinians, 87 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since a Palestinian uprising erupted last September. A Palestinian policeman, wounded in a West Bank gun battle last Friday, died on Tuesday, hospital officials said.

Palestinians fired three mortar bombs into Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday, the army said. It said one mortar round landed in a Jewish settlement in Gaza.

Late on Monday, five Israelis and two Palestinians were wounded along a fierce firing line between the Jewish settlement of Gilo, regarded by Israel as a neighborhood of Jerusalem, and the West Bank town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem.

Stopping short of a full U.S. diplomatic drive in the Middle East, Powell said on Monday: "It is now up to the leaders in the region to show that they have heard this clarion call from this committee."

Arafat, accepting the recommendations of the Mitchell report, repeated a call to reconvene an international summit that proposed a cease-fire last October, soon after the violence erupted. The cease-fire was not implemented.

A Sharon spokesman also welcomed the report, but accused the Palestinians of "playing games", reiterating Israel's position that a complete cessation of violence must come before talks.