Israelis, Egyptians to meet on pullout

Amos Gilad, the senior advisor on diplomatic affairs in the Defense Ministry, is slated to meet Tuesday with Egyptian and Israeli security officials on the disengagement plan, Israel Radio reported.

The officials will also discuss the future control of the Philadelphi route between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. They will be meeting in the Egyptian sector of Rafah, which straddles south Gaza and Egypt.

Security sources said there was no connection between Tuesday's meeting and any talks on ending the Israel Defense Forces operation in north Gaza, now in its seventh day. However, they said Israel would discuss a cease-fire if its Egyptian hosts ask them to do so.

An Israeli military official said Tuesday that Israeli and Palestinian security officials have begun indirect contacts aimed at ending the Gaza offensive, but the claim was denied by the Palestinians.

The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinians delivered messages through mediators, offering to try to prevent rocket fire on Israeli towns if Israel ends the operation aimed at achieving that goal.

Asked about the reported contacts, Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said: "I have no knowledge of such contacts but the position of the Palestinian Authority has been consistent in calling upon Israel to resume peace negotiations immediately and speak to the Palestinian Authority instead of destroying it."

Palestinian source told Israel Radio on Tuesday that no contacts had passed the theoretical stage.

But Israeli military sources said Israel and the Palestinian Authority began negotiations Monday through a third party aimed at obtaining a Palestinian promise to end the rocket fire. They did not identify the intermediary.

The sources said Israel would withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip if such a promise was forthcoming.

The initial contacts are expected to accelerate in coming days, the sources said.

The new bid to halt the fighting comes after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington hoped Israeli would quickly end its massive military campaign in the northern Gaza Strip without expanding the operation.

The sources said the aim of the discussions is for the army to pull back its forces while the Palestinian Authority takes steps to stop Hamas rocket fire that triggered Israel's biggest offensive in the territory in four years of conflict.

A senior security source said Israeli officials remained sceptical of the ability and willingness of Palestinian security services to confront Hamas militants. "Their record in this area is not good," the source said.

Israel Radio reported Monday that Eli Moyal, mayor of Sderot, the Negev border town that has been the target of hundreds of Palestinian Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired from the adjacent Gaza Strip, said the Palestinian Authority has turned to an unnamed Australian figure in an attempt to seek a back channel for negotiations toward a truce in Gaza.

It was unclear if there was a tie between the reported Israel-PA contacts and a possible Australian connection.

At least 68 Palestinians have been killed in the operation, sparked by the firing of Palestinian rockets and mortars into southern Israel.

It began last Tuesday, but was drastically expanded after one of the rockets killed two pre-schoolers in the Israeli town of Sderot Wednesday.