Palestinians and Israelis in concerted bid for peace

THE Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers made their first public show of reconciliation yesterday, confirming their commitment to peace as Israeli armoured vehicles and trucks loaded with military gear began a withdrawal from Bethlehem.

At a ceremony outside Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, former enemies including the Israeli defence minister and the Palestinian security chief sat side by side and chatted in a display of accord after 33 months of bloodshed.

"We are facing a new opportunity, a better future for both peoples," Sharon said, addressing his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, before the two met behind closed doors.

"The possibility of a better future (is) before us. I will make every effort to achieve an agreement that will lead us to peace and security."

Abbas responded in kind, saying that every day without a peace agreement is a "an opportunity lost, every life sacrificed is a human tragedy."

He said it was time for Israel and the Palestinians to "put the past behind us" and co-operate to end the violence, in which 2,414 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 806 on the Israeli side during the past 33 months.

It was the third such meeting in Jerusalem, but the first time that the two leaders, joined by senior Cabinet ministers and aides, made a public display of warming relations.

Sharon and Abbas each renewed support for a US-backed peace plan, and, in their meeting were expected to reconstruct committees to discuss issues like security, finances and prisoners.

The committees operated during the first years of peace efforts in the 1990s but were suspended during the current violence.

The two leaders also met in Jordan on June 4 with US President George W Bush for the launch of the "road map" plan, which envisions a peace agreement and a Palestinian statehood by 2005.

The pullout from the West Bank town of Bethlehem is to begin today, in line with the road map requirement for Israel to withdraw to positions held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000.

Over the weekend, Israel pulled back from parts of the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian militias declared a suspension of attacks on Israelis.

Despite the militias' truce, a Palestinian man opened fire at a West Bank checkpoint yesterday and was killed by troops.

There was no claim of responsibility, but renegade groups in one militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to the ruling Fatah movement, have said they will not observe the truce.

On Monday, Al Aqsa gunmen killed a Bulgarian construction worker in the West Bank.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday said the killers of the Bulgarian worker had been arrested, a claim Palestinian security forces denied.

Security officials from both sides have agreed on the details of the Bethlehem pullout, but the chief of Israel's Shin Bet security service yesterday said Israel would withdraw from additional West Bank towns only if Palestinian police begin disarming Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militias in the Gaza Strip.

"The real test (in Gaza) will be in two or three weeks, when they have to deal with disarming the terrorist organisations," the Shin Bet chief, Avi Dichter, told a symposium at Tel Aviv University.

"We will not move on to transfer responsibility for the West Bank before it becomes totally clear that in Gaza the process of disarming terror groups has begun."

Abbas opposes the use of force against militias. He yesterday suggested illegal weapons would not be confiscated, but that Palestinian police would try to persuade militias not to use them.

"The misuse of weapons must be prevented through dialogue and agreement, not through internal war," Abbas told the Palestinian parliament.

Near Bethlehem, there were signs Israeli troops were preparing to withdraw. Israeli and Palestinian commanders met to wrap up the final details.

Trucks loaded with boxes and containers drove out of an army base on the outskirts of town. Flatbed trucks transporting armoured vehicles pulled out of another base.

In the Gaza Strip, the pullback has gone smoothly, and Palestinian police have taken over positions left by Israeli forces.

Traffic flowed freely on the main north-south road, which until Monday had been dotted by Israeli checkpoints.

Sharon has asked the Shin Bet to prepare a list of Palestinian prisoners who could be released, but has said those involved in killings would not be freed.

In other developments yesterday, Israeli wrecking crews demolished the foundations of a mosque being built without authorisation next to a major Christian shrine, the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Jesus' boyhood town.

The demolition came after years of wrangling and amid intense Christian pressure, including from the Vatican.