Peres heads for US as violence threatens truce prospects

Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres was today leaving for the US to discuss peace efforts after talks in Egypt and Jordan about a ceasefire plan - but renewed violence between Israel and the Palestinians cast doubt on peace prospects.

Peres travelled to Cairo and the Jordanian resort of Aqaba yesterday to discuss an Egyptian-Jordanian initiative for ending seven months of Palestinian-Israeli clashes and reviving negotiations.

Today he was flying to New York to meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss peace efforts and is to meet US president George W Bush in Washington on Thursday.

Interviewed on Israel television after his talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Peres said the Palestinians were beginning to grasp the concept that violence must stop before negotiations resume.

‘‘I see the beginning of a possibility of getting out of the present deadlock,’’ he said.

However, he said no agreement has been reached. The Palestinians blame Israel for the violence.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II told Peres that ‘‘ending the aggression and the use of force against the Palestinians and lifting the siege’’ was the only way to make progress, according to a statement from the king’s office.

Since Israeli-Palestinian fighting began last September, most of the 130,000 Palestinians have been barred from travelling to their jobs in Israel, strangling the economy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Egyptian-Jordanian plan calls on both sides to take steps to halt violence. It calls on Israel to ease restrictions imposed on the Palestinians, pull forces back from the edge of Palestinian-controlled territory, release tax funds and stop construction in settlements.

After a ceasefire, peace talks would resume.

A statement issued by Sharon’s office said Israel would ‘‘not hold any negotiations under fire, and stressed that there must be a total halt to terrorism in all its forms’’.

Also, there must be a ‘‘trial period for the cessation of violence’’ and Israeli press reports said Israel wanted it to be longer than the four weeks Mubarak mentioned. Israel objects to several other points in the plan but has agreed to discuss it.

Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Israelis should not attempt to rework the Arab plan. ‘‘They should accept it or leave it,’’ he said.

Meanwhile in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the violence persisted.

Palestinians set off two bombs targeting Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and Israeli police located a third bomb and set off a controlled explosion in the coastal city of Netanya.

A Palestinian was killed when the car he was driving exploded near Nablus, not far from an Israeli school bus.

The local Israeli army commander said the Palestinian was a suicide bomber who intended to blow up the car alongside the school bus.

Palestinians also fired mortars at the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. No one was injured.

Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen traded fire at three locations in Gaza, wounding at least seven Palestinians, according to hospitals. One of them was in a critical condition. An Israeli soldier was lightly wounded, the military said.