Israel renews ceasefire demand

Israeli tanks still surround Palestinian cities

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reiterated his demand for seven days free from violence before it considers a ceasefire deal with the Palestinians.

If calm continues for the next two or three days it would be a very good time to start the implementation of the Tenet (ceasefire) plan

Shimon Peres
Israeli Foreign Minister

And he made it clear the relative quiet of the last two weeks is not good enough.

The move came on the eve of a new peace mission by American envoy, General Anthony Zinni.

Mr Sharon also suggested that Israel might ease its blockade of the Palestinian territories.

General Zinni will tell Arafat the arrests of militants is "encouraging"

General Zinni is expected to press both Israel and the Palestinians to implement a ceasefire plan when he returns to the Middle East on Thursday.

These set out a series of steps designed to lead first to a formal ceasefire and later, through confidence-building measures, to the resumption of peace talks.

General Zinni is only expected to stay for only four days.

BBC correspondents say a four-day visit may be too short to enable General Zinni to resolve differences over the Mitchell plan and get an agreed timetable for its much-delayed implementation.

But Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has welcomed his return as an opportunity to resume efforts to find peace with Israel.

"We hope that Zinni's visit will go in the right direction so that we can put things back on track," Mr Arafat said.

Army checkpoints

General Zinni left the Middle East on 16 December last year after a three-week stay marred by a wave of Palestinian suicide bomb attacks inside Israel, leading to a series of intense Israeli reprisal strikes.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has questioned Mr Sharon's insistence on seven consecutive days of calm before implementing a formal ceasefire, Israel radio reported.

Mr Sharon, however, has repeatedly said Mr Arafat is not doing enough and has ruled out resuming peace talks until all violence ceases.

Israeli public radio on Wednesday reported the easing of the internal closure of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the reduction of the number of Israeli army checkpoints to allow for the freer movement of Palestinian vehicles.

It said however that Israeli security officials had reported "numerous threats of attacks" and stressed that "the Palestinian Authority is still not working hard enough to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organisations".