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Persuasion to be used to stop the Palestinian jihad

The US accepts a Palestinian plan to persuade militant groups to halt anti-Israeli attacks rather than launch an immediate crackdown, the Palestinians said Saturday and Israel demonstrated acceptance to the approach by calling a ceasfire.

Israel has said that for now it would accept a ceasefire from the militants, though it wants Palestinian officials to disarm and disband the groups as soon as possible.

"A ceasefire -- that's fine," a senior Israeli government source said. "The point is, at the end of the day there have to be real steps to disarm and dismantle the Palestinian terrorist groups."

A statement released by the Israeli army said that the Israeli government had approved the lifting of the closure over the West Bank and Gaza Strip to begin at midnight. The closure was imposed two weeks ago, banning all Palestinians from entering Israel.

During the Thursday-night summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas that Israel would ease restrictions on the Palestinian population, moves Israel calls confidence-building gestures.

Among the measures announced after the meeting were allowing 25,000 Palestinian workers into Israel, expanding the permitted fishing areas off the coast of the Gaza Strip and releasing some Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinian comments on a possible ceasefire followed a meeting between Abbas and US officials Saturday to haggle over the wording of Israeli-Palestinian declarations recognizing each side's right to statehood and security -- the first step of an internationally backed peace "road map" to be discussed at a summit with Bush later this week.

The security issue has been a main sticking point ahead of a three-way summit with Abbas, Sharon and Bush, set for the Jordanian resort of Aqaba on Wednesday.

The Israelis have demanded that Abbas wage a decisive crackdown on militant groups in the West Bank and Gaza that have launched scores of attacks, killing more than 350 people in the past 32 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Abbas has said he preferred to use persuasion to stop the attacks, and that he could have a ceasefire agreement with Hamas within days. The Palestinian Cabinet released a statement Saturday night saying that officials were still hopeful that an accord could be reached soon.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said that the Americans had accepted Abbas' position.

"This is an important goal for us," he told reporters Saturday following a meeting Abbas and Shaath held with US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. Neither Burns nor Abbas commented after the meeting.
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