Abbas pushes militants to end attack on Israel

US envoy John Wolf (L) shakes hands with Palestinian Prime Minster Mahmud Abbas in Gaza City on Tuesday. The senior US diplomat, who heads a 12-member team named by US President George W. Bush to monitor the Middle East peace process, is holding talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on the plan aimed at creating a Palestinian state by 2005. PHOTO: AFP

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas stepped in to try to persuade militant groups to stop attacks against Israel, the key to implementing a US-backed Middle East peace plan, after Egyptian mediators went home empty-handed.Abbas met late Monday with members of his own Fatah faction and hoped to meet Tuesday with leaders of the militant Hamas and other factions. The move came after Egyptian officials left for Cairo without a truce accord, failing to extract a pledge from Israel to stop targeting Hamas leaders for assassination.

Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged to continue an offensive against Hamas and said his government would pursue terrorists "in every place and at every time until victory."

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The Hamas-Israel duel, including a suicide bombing in Jerusalem and helicopters strikes in Gaza over the past week, has caused dozens of casualties on both sides and endangered the "road map" peace plan.

Palestinians involved in the truce talks on Monday said Egypt would invite all the factions to Cairo. Previous rounds there have not produced results.

In another development, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called the wife of imprisoned West Bank leader Marwan Barghouti early Tuesday, and told her Israel would release Barghouti in the next two days. Barghouti is on trial for murder, charged with complicity in terror attacks that killed 26 Israelis.

Israeli officials declined to comment on the report. There has been no hint that Israel would free Barghouti during his trial.

Abbas' task in Gaza is daunting. Not only does he face the recalcitrant Hamas, but also the military wing of his own Fatah, which is defying his call to stop attacks against Israelis.

After Monday's session with the Egyptian mediators, top Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab said it was premature to talk about a cease-fire. "Now is not a time for truce. It is time for solidarity and standing united against Israeli attacks on our people," he said.

A source close to the talks said US mediators would press Israel to agree to end the targeted killings, and that if this succeeded, the militant groups would then agree to a truce.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Egyptians were asking for a written American guarantee of Israel's commitment on this issue, and on troop withdrawals and other steps implementing the road map.

But Israeli officials insisted that they would continue targeting the militants and rejected the idea of a cease-fire that did not include a dismantling of the militias.

Speaking to his parliament, Sharon did not mention the cease-fire effort in Gaza, declaring that his government would "pursue and catch every initiator of terrorism and its perpetrators in every place and at every time until victory."

He charged that Hamas had unleashed a "new wave of terror," noting Wednesday's suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus that killed 17 people. He said Israel would continue targeting terrorists. He noted the recent helicopter strikes also killed Palestinian civilians, but said, "This was not our intention."

Reuters adds: New US envoy John Wolf met Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in an effort to save a "road map" to peace with Israel that has been rejected by Islamic militants and battered by a flare-up of violence.

Wolf arrived under heavy guard at Abbas's compound in Gaza City, where he was also expected to hold talks with Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan, officials said. The road map envisages a Palestinian state founded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005, alongside a secure Israel. Wolf was to have overseen steps to implement the plan but has been thrust into an initial troubleshooting role after Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed killed more than 50 last week.