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Ahead of proposed Gaza withdrawal, talks held

A renewed spate of diplomacy swirled around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict yesterday as international mediators stepped up efforts ahead of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an expected summit between both sides' premiers.

Tension between the two sides persisted, and Israeli forces patrolled the streets of Ramallah early yesterday after encircling the West Bank city to prevent Palestinian attacks, the military said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak later in the day, while top US envoys were scheduled to hold midday talks about the potential withdrawal and chances for renewing the long stalled "road map" peace plan. Shalom is the highest Israeli official to visit Egypt since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office in 2000.

Shalom said the two spoke about the withdrawal plan and "how to build an infrastructure of peace on all levels."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Mubarak "showed our desire to work for the implementation for peace between the Palestinians and Israel on the basis of the road map."

The Palestinians are looking for Egyptian involvement in Gaza in the event of a withdrawal, but Egypt has resisted committing itself, despite fears of the chaos a power vacuum in Gaza could bring to its border.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on Wednesday to talk about Gaza's fate under the withdrawal plan, which is part of unilateral measures Sharon has said Israel would take if peace talks remain stalled.

Suleiman told Arafat that Egypt would help restructure and retrain the Palestinian security forces to help maintain order in Gaza in the event of a withdrawal, Palestinian security official Jibril Rajoub said.

Suleiman secretly met Sharon earlier in the week.

Three senior US envoys were to hold another round of talks yesterday and today on Sharon's "disengagement plan."

The officials, traveling to the region for the second time in less than a month, are Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, Stephen Hadley, deputy director of the National Security Council, and Elliot Abrams, a Middle East specialist at the council.

Israeli officials traveled to Washington last week to discuss the withdrawal plan with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

The plan would also be brought up at a summit between Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia tentatively scheduled for next week, Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity. Final details were to be worked out on Sunday.

Israel hopes the Palestinians will agree at a summit to maintain order in Gaza after the proposed pullout, while the Palestinians hope to revive the US-backed road map.

"Both sides now want the meeting," Sharon's adviser Raanan Gissin said.

Qureia has dropped a demand that a summit yield concrete results, such as an easing of travel restrictions on Palestinians, Palestinian officials said, out of fear Sharon would tell US officials the Palestinians had no interest in restarting peace efforts.
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