Middle East: Israeli leader Mr Ariel Sharon said conditions were right for a "historic breakthrough" on Middle East peace after measures taken by new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to bring calm.
He said that if Palestinians worked to "fight terror", then Israel could move forward with the US-backed "road map" peace plan meant to lead to a Palestinian state.
"I believe the conditions have been created to permit us and the Palestinians to reach a historic breakthrough, a breakthrough that will lead us to security and peace," Mr Sharon told a business forum yesterday.
Palestinians said that in order to help Mr Abbas, who faces a strong challenge from militants, the Israelis had agreed in principle to pull back troops from West Bank cities reoccupied during a four-year-old uprising, and to free hundreds of prisoners.
In a test of strength in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the Islamic militant Hamas group appeared to have made a strong showing in municipal elections against Mr Abbas's Fatah movement, according to an exit poll.
In a sign of a new US push for Middle East peace, officials said Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice would visit the region early next month on the first trip of her new job.
Hopes of progress have been raised by a dip in violence since Mr Abbas was elected on January 9th to succeed Yasser Arafat and began pursuing a truce deal with Hamas and other militant groups.
Speaking after talks with US envoy Mr William Burns, Mr Abbas urged Israel to hold its fire and to agree quickly to a ceasefire with militants who insist it must be mutual. Mr Burns said the US was "very encouraged" by steps Mr Abbas had taken towards a "restoration of law and order".
Israel says it will answer quiet with quiet and has shelved major military operations, but refused to stop selective raids.
In the Gaza Strip, soldiers shot dead a mentally retarded Palestinian man they apparently mistook for a militant when he ran toward troops near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, medics and Israeli sources said. - (Reuters)