Signs emerge of new Israeli-Palestinian dialogue
( 2002-02-02 11:12 ) (7 )

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Shron has held his first face-to-face talks weith the Palestinian leadership since taking office, but Israel launched a new attack on Saturday on a Palestinian naval police headquaters.

Sharon's talks, which took place on Wednesday but were first reported by Israel radio on Friday, opened a channel of dialogue while Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is kept under siege by the Israeli military.

In other talks, Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in Jerusalem on Friday, renewing contacts interrupted last month by a wave of suicide attacks by Palestinian militants, U.S. and Israeli officials said in New York.

Hours after the security meeting, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at the headquarters of the Palestinian naval police in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Israeli security officials said.

There were no reports of casualties in the assault early on Saturday which followed what the army said were Palestinian attacks late on Friday in Gaza that wounded a soldier.

"In response to the firing of two mortar bombs at an army post near the Erez crossing (between Gaza and Israel) and a terrorist attack on a position near (the Jewish settlement) of Kfar Darom, the military struck a Palestinian naval police headquarters in Dir al-Balach," the army said.

Commenting on Sharon's talks, Israeli political sources said he asked two Palestinian architects of the landmark 1993 Oslo peace deal and an economic adviser to Arafat to urge the Palestinian president to fight terrorism.

Israeli commentators speculated Sharon's Jerusalem talks with parliamentary speaker Ahmed Korei, Arafat's unofficial deputy Mahmoud Abbas and the adviser, Mohammed Rashid, were aimed at wooing moderates to help end 16 months of killing.

"I'm very pleased that they've met. Dialogue is an important thing," Secretary of State Colin Powell, asked about Sharon's contacts with the three men, told Reuters in New York on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

"Between that and, hopefully, the security meeting we held today, we might be having some progress once again," he said.

Powell offered no further details about Friday's security session, but an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said it took place in Jerusalem "at the highest levels between Israeli and Palestinian security officials."

KOREI, ABBAS TOUTED AS ARAFAT SUCCESSORS

Korei, who has held a series of meetings with dovish Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and Abbas are also known respectively as Abu Ala and Abu Mazen.

Abu Ala was one of the three Palestine Liberation Organization representatives who met secretly with Israelis in Norway to hammer out the Oslo accords which paved the way for the first interim peace deal between the two sides in 1993.

Abu Mazen signed the peace deal on behalf of the PLO.

Both have been touted as possible successors to Arafat, who has been under siege by Israeli tanks in the West Bank city of Ramallah since a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and attacks in December.

Sharon has said he can leave only when he arrests the killers of an Israeli cabinet minister assassinated in October. The Palestinian Authority has accused Sharon of trying to topple Arafat.

A spokesman for Sharon declined to comment on Wednesday's talks. A senior Palestinian official confirmed the meeting had taken place but said he did not know what had been discussed.

A statement issued by the Palestinian cabinet after its weekly meeting on Friday made no mention of the talks, which were held ahead of a White House visit by Sharon next week.

Bush, who has criticized Arafat over an alleged attempt by the Palestinian Authority last month to smuggle a shipload of Iranian arms into Gaza, has yet to invite the Palestinian leader to the White House. The PA has denied involvement.

At least 827 Palestinians and 249 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising against occupation began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.