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No breakthrough in Abbas talks with Palestinian factionsPowell heading to Jerusalem for peace talks
From Matthew Chance
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Meetings between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and representatives of several Palestinian factions to discuss a cease-fire with Israel broke up late Tuesday with no breakthrough, Palestinian officials said. Representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said they needed more time to consider their next move, and reiterated that before any cessation in their attacks against Israelis, Israel must halt its assassination program of militant leaders. Contacts will be maintained between the Palestinian Authority and the militant groups, but no new meetings were scheduled, the officials said. Earlier, the Palestinian Authority warned the groups it was not afraid to crack down on them if they refused to honor an eventual cease-fire, but it also told Israel that conditions must be eased to make possible any progress on the security situation. Meanwhile, there was fresh violence near the West Bank Tuesday when 7-year-old Israeli girl was killed and her sister and father wounded in a shooting on a toll road near the West Bank border, Israeli ambulance sources told CNN. The Israeli military and police are searching for the assailant. The Palestinian meetings took place as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said it would not be enough for Hamas to declare a cease-fire. He said the militant group must also give up its ability carry out such attacks. "It would not be enough in the long term for Hamas to say they were not going to do it (stage terror attacks) right now (but) were not going to give up the capability. Ultimately these terrorist groups have to not only stop committing terrorist attacks but we'd have to eliminate their capability to do so," Powell told reporters while en route to Cambodia. "That has to be one of the goals as we move forward in the road map." Powell will meet with both sides Friday in Jerusalem during a stop while on his way to a meeting of the international Quartet -- the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia -- in Jordan to discuss how to keep the road map moving forward despite continued violence in the Middle East.
The quartet backs a road map for Mideast peace that calls for steps by both sides toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing an independent Palestine by 2005. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf, who is working behind the scenes to support the current peace efforts, met Tuesday with Abbas and Palestinian Authority security chief Mohammed Dahlan. Palestinian officials, who spoke to CNN on condition they not be named, said Dahlan was outlining to Israeli officials a series of steps Israel must take if the violence is to stop. Dahlan was meeting with Israeli officials at the Erez crossing on the Israel-Gaza border. The Palestinian Authority also was continuing to meet with representatives of militant groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the officials said. All three groups have killed Israeli civilians and attacked Israeli military targets and are considered terror groups by the United States and Israel. The three groups also have, so far, refused to call off terror strikes on Israel. What Dahlan sought from IsraelIsraeli-Palestinian violence worsened last week, just days after peace talks in Jordan between Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in a coordinated attack June 8 followed by a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem on June 11 that killed 17 people plus the bomber. Israel launched a series of helicopter attacks aimed at killing Hamas leaders. By the end of the week more than 50 Israelis and Palestinians were dead. According to the Palestinian sources who spoke to CNN Tuesday, Dahlan will argue that the Israeli policy of targeted killings must stop because it undermines attempts by the Palestinian Authority to persuade radical groups to stop attacks on Israel. In addition, he will be pushing Israel to end its occupation of northern areas of Gaza near the Beit Hanoun refugee camp, turning over security in that area to the Palestinian Authority. He is also asking that Israel allow freedom of movement for all Palestinians by removing checkpoints that divide Gaza into three parts, arguing that doing so will make it easier for the Palestinian Authority to impose security and help the economy. Dahlan will also appeal for an end to all Israeli incursions and house demolitions and firing by Israeli troops into Gaza. As confidence-building measures, the Palestinian Authority also wants Israel to release a number of Palestinian prisoners and allow reconstruction to begin at the Gaza airport. According to the sources, Dahlan will tell the Israelis the Palestinian Authority is not afraid to crack down on Hamas and other militant groups, but politically, residents of Gaza must be able to see some improvement in their daily lives and have some hope for peace. Dahlan will also say that the Palestinian Authority must have charge of security or not be involved at all. The PA can't be seen as a proxy of the Israelis, the sources said. Sharon: 'No compromise' on Israeli securityAppearing before the Knesset on Monday, Sharon told lawmakers that Israel will "deal very vigorously with any form of terrorism until we prevail." "There will be no compromise whatsoever when it comes to Israel's security," he said. "It's not possible to achieve a diplomatic arrangement, and certainly not a peace treaty, when terrorism is rampaging." Sharon said the Palestinian Authority has taken steps to crack down on terrorism, but "a complete war by the Palestinians on the terrorist infrastructure means utterly dismantling it." On Monday, an Egyptian delegation left Gaza after failing to get Hamas to agree to a cease-fire. Israeli officials have said that unless Hamas commits to a cease-fire, Israel is not willing to turn over security control in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. Sources familiar with the Egyptian talks said Hamas and Islamic Jihad indicated they may consider calling some kind of a truce, but only if Israel offers concrete guarantees to withdraw from areas of the West Bank and Gaza, and for Israel to suspend the targeting of senior militants.
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