Violence dropped sharply in the Gaza Strip yesterday ahead of the deployment of security forces ordered by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, to prevent attacks by militants against Israelis.
In what could be an initial sign of progress in Mr Abbas's efforts to achieve calm, there have been no launchings since Tuesday of mortar bombs and rockets that have rained down daily on Jewish settlements in Gaza and frequently on southern Israel.
A reduction in bloodshed is vital to keeping alive peace hopes prompted by the election of Mr Abbas to succeed the late Yasser Arafat on a platform of ending more than four years of violence.
At a rare meeting with senior Israeli army officers on Wednesday, Palestinian officials presented a detailed plan for stationing Gaza security forces in field positions. A Palestinian security chief said they would fan out near the border within two days.
Israeli officials said the Defence Minister, Mr Shaul Mofaz, had approved the plan, opening the way for the deployment to begin.
"We believe in peace and negotiations and we want through negotiations to achieve peace," Mr Abbas said in a speech for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Aides said he had discussed with militant leaders this week the need for restraint to help ensure that Israel pulls Jewish settlers out of Gaza this year as planned, a step it says it will not take "under fire".
In Gaza Mr Mahmoud al-Zahar, a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, set terms for a truce, saying Israel must halt all military activity in the territory, leave checkpoints and free Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has said any ceasefire with Israel must be based on mutuality, but Mr Zahar's statement was the clearest sign yet that the group was considering Mr Abbas's call for non-violence.
"I sense we are on the verge of some sort of truce, but we must not be surprised by anything in this war zone," said a senior Israeli military official.
Israel says it will not enter into any formal truce with Hamas, which is dedicated to its destruction, or other militant groups but would respond in kind if attacks on Israelis stopped.
In fresh violence in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers killed a 14-year-old Palestinian who witnesses said had joined other youths in throwing stones at the troops.
An Israeli military source said soldiers spotted a gunman in the crowd and opened fire, but Palestinians later told the army the youngster killed in the incident had carried an imitation rifle.
In an indication that the ice was breaking between Israel and Mr Abbas, the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, on Wednesday lifted a ban on contacts with the Palestinian Authority that he imposed in response to a deadly bombing last week.
Mr Sharon softened his position after receiving information from intelligence sources that Hamas was starting to co-operate with the Palestinian Authority, a political source said.
Reuters