Palestinian PM to meet militants

Hamas has reportedly offered a conditional ceasefire

The Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas - also known as Abu Mazen - has arrived in Gaza City for talks with militant groups aimed at achieving a ceasefire with Israel.

It is Abu Mazen's first meeting with the militants since he attended a peace summit with Israel in Aqaba, Jordan, earlier this month.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday vowed to continue targeting Hamas, which has carried out a wave of suicide bombings against Israel since the Palestinian uprising (intifada) erupted in September, 2000.

Egyptian efforts to persuade the Palestinian militant groups to call a ceasefire ended earlier on Monday without a breakthrough.

The groups presented conditions for ending attacks on civilians in Israel but they said attacks on Israeli troops and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza would continue.

John Wolf, the visiting United States peace envoy, is due to meet Mr Sharon on Monday night in Jerusalem and he will also hold talks with Abu Mazen later this week.

Aqaba 'sell out'

Abu Mazen is asking the militant groups to agree to a ceasefire as the first step on the American roadmap to peace - a document already condemned outright by Hamas.

ROADMAP MAIN POINTS

Phase 1 (to May 2003): End to Palestinian violence; Palestinian political reform; Israeli withdrawal and freeze on settlement expansion; Palestinian elections

Phase 2: (June-Dec 2003) Creation of an independent Palestinian state; international conference and international monitoring of compliance with roadmap

Phase 3 (2004-2005): Second international conference; permanent status agreement and end of conflict; agreement on final borders, Jerusalem, refugees and settlements; Arab states to agree to peace deals with Israel

In the eyes of the militants, Abu Mazen gave too much away to the Israelis in Aqaba under American pressure, the BBC's Middle East correspondent Paul Wood says.

But he notes that at the talks in Gaza with Egyptian mediators the groups did talk about their conditions for halting violence.

These include an Israeli pullback from Palestinian areas, a halt to Israeli assassinations or targeted killings and guarantees that members of militant organisations will not be arrested by the Palestinian security forces.

"It has always been our position and that of Hamas to keep civilians out of the war if Israel stops its incursions and assassinations," said Islamic Jihad's Mohammad al-Hindi.

But Mr Hindi stressed that the groups retained the right to attack Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers - a position which Israel finds unacceptable.

'Third force'

One of US President George W Bush's closest political allies has suggested the US might consider participating in an international force to help secure peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Have your say on the chances for the roadmap

In an interview with the BBC, Senator Richard Lugar - chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - suggested the exact role of the force could be negotiated as part of the roadmap process.

However, he did not rule out the possibility of using it to tackle militants like Hamas, saying the Palestinian Authority did not have the forces required to fight terrorism.

The French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, on Monday urged the European Union to study the idea of an international peacekeeping force.

Washington rejected the idea of a peacekeeping force after it was originally proposed by the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan.