Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon headed to the US yesterday to take his idea of peace to US President George W. Bush after Israel's crushing military offensive against Palestinian targets in the West Bank.
Negotiators in Bethlehem pressed on with talks to end the Israeli army's siege of Palestinian gunmen inside the Church of the Nativity -- a stand-off which prevented Orthodox Christians from celebrating Easter Sunday in the holy shrine.
In more bloodshed in the West Bank, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian woman and two children. They said it was a mistake.
Israel Radio said the women and children were running away in fright after a roadside bomb exploded against an armored patrol. The soldiers had mistaken them for fighters fleeing the scene, it said.
Both sides were considering a US proposal for an international conference to bring them back to the negotiating table and halt the violence that flared when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out 19 months ago.
Sharon was booked for a Tuesday meeting with Bush, who reiterated strong US support for Israel this week, but also said he backed the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Sharon gave an assurance on US television he would lay out "a serious plan, maybe the most serious" at his fifth meeting with the US president.
Israeli political sources indicated the plan mirrored his previous proposal for a long-term interim arrangement that would leave Israeli settlements in place in Palestinian areas -- an idea that clashes with the Palestinian drive for sovereignty.
The Bethlehem siege entered its 34th day with US and European officials helping in the tortuous negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. The talks, which one Palestinian described as heated, focused on a list of all the people inside the church.
Dozens of civilians and clergymen are also inside the church, as hostages, Israel says; voluntarily, Palestinians say.
Israel says Palestinian militants inside the church are behind attacks on Israelis and demands their exile or trial in Israel. Palestinian officials say they are willing to jail the men in Palestinian territory under foreign supervision.
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