MIDDLE EAST: Ceasefire talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials were set to continue last night despite the latest suicide bombing. The bomber killed himself and seven other passengers on a morning rush-hour bus near the town of Afula, in northern Israel.
The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the blast, which also wounded 28 passengers, 10 of them seriously. Four of the dead were believed to be soldiers.
Islamic Jihad identified the attacker as Rafat Abu Diyak (24) from the West Bank town of Jenin. Mr Vadim Weinfus, a soldier on the bus, told Israel Radio he tried to load his rifle to fire: "Just as I was going to insert the ammunition clip to stop this guy somehow - because I was sure this was it - he exploded."
The US special envoy, Gen Anthony Zinni, met President Arafat after the explosion and planned to host talks between Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs later in the day. The Palestinian Information Minister, Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, told Reuters that Gen Zinni had proposed that the security session not adjourn until a deal was sealed. Mr Abed Rabbo expressed confidence that a ceasefire would be reached by the weekend.
The US Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, has offered Mr Arafat a meeting with him if a truce held. This meeting would probably be held in Cairo early next week. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, said Mr Arafat had "not relinquished his policy of terrorism". But security sources said Israel was unlikely to retaliate.
The planned security meeting was to discuss the details of the Tenet plan. It calls for an Israeli troop withdrawal to positions held in the West Bank and Gaza before the start of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in September 2000. Under the plan, Palestinian authorities would arrest militants and confiscate illegal arms.
The two sides would then gradually resume peace talks under a plan for confidence-building measures, such as a freeze in Jewish settlement construction, proposed by an international committee led by former Senator George Mitchell.
In a separate development, the Israeli mission to the UN sharply criticised the Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, for a critical letter he sent to Mr Sharon last week and released publicly on Monday.
The prime minister has not responded to the letter, and the Israeli mission called the release "most inappropriate and contrary to basic diplomatic conduct". The Israeli mission said: "The tactic of using the media for selective criticism, so as to exert pressure on those combating terror rather than on the terrorists and those states supporting them is at the least counterproductive." Mr Annan made his letter available after six days of silence by Mr Sharon on the issue. In it, Mr Annan wrote that Israel's response to the Palestinian uprising had come to resemble "all-out conventional warfare".
The secretary-general complained to Mr Sharon that Israeli tanks had been deployed in towns, villages and heavily-populated refugee camps and that heavy explosives had been dropped only yards from schools, even damaging a school for the blind. He also wrote of "disturbing patterns" to the Israeli military's treatment of civilians and medical workers who tried to assist the wounded.
The Israeli statement said: "Israeli forces continue to do their utmost to ensure that their legitimate actions against terror inflict the barest minimum of harm on the civilian population."
Agencies add: Arab League chief Mr Amr Mussa has said Mr Sharon has imposed "unacceptable" conditions on Mr Arafat's participation in next week's Arab League summit. Mr Sharon said Mr Arafat would be free to leave the Palestinian territories only after a ceasefire is agreed. Meanwhile, thousands of students yesterday marched through central Beirut to the Arab League office, demanding Arab rulers reject a Saudi peace plan at the summit.