Talks on hold after bodies of 2 Israelis found in West Bank

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TABA, Egypt (CNN) -- Intensive negotiations between Israelis and Palestinian negotiators were put on hold on Tuesday after the bodies of two Israelis were found in a Palestinian-controlled section of the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak summoned his top negotiators to Jerusalem for consultations after word of the killings broke. Barak's office condemned the killings in a statement saying Israel will "lay its hands on the lowly murderers and will punish them with all severity of the law."

The statement said no contacts with the Palestinians would continue at any level as long as the consultations were going on.

Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and Barak adviser Gilead Sher were returned to Jerusalem. Lower level diplomats were to remain, the prime minister's office said.

VIDEO Israeli soldiers were bombed in Gaza. Hamas claimed responsibility and showed video. CNN's Matthew Chance reports (January 23) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    AUDIO CNN's Jerrold Kessel: Israel scales down West Bank proposals. 195K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    MESSAGE BOARD Mideast Peace    TIMELINES Recent acts of violence in the Middle East:  •  Bombings  •  Activist deaths    RESOURCES Key issues: U.S., Israeli and Palestinian views    RESOURCES In-Depth: Israel Election 2001

Ahmed Qorei, the head of the Palestinian delegation, confirmed that talks with the Israelis had been "postponed." He said a decision would be made Wednesday on whether they would continue.

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning the killings.

"We condemn the killing of all civilians," Qorei said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were reportedly making some progress toward ending the 52-year-old Mideast conflict.

Palestinian police officials said the two Israelis were apparently abducted and killed near the Palestinian town of Tulkarem, not far from the Israeli border, after coming there in the company of an Israeli Arab. The bodies were found in an area under full Palestinian security control.

The bodies of the two were handed over to Israeli authorities, Israel Radio reported. The identity of the two was not known, but Israeli television reported that they were restaurant owners from Tel Aviv.

There was no immediate word on whether the killings were politically or criminally motivated. Reuters news service reported that the armed wing of the militant Hamas group had claimed responsibility for the deaths.

Nearly 400 people have been killed in the latest round of Mideast violence, which began on September 28. According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, 342 of the dead were Palestinians. The Israel Defense Forces say that at least 44 were Israeli Jews and 13 were Israeli Arabs.

'Significant progress' reported in talks

Israeli negotiators had traveled to Jerusalem on Tuesday to personally brief Barak after what sources described as "significant progress" on territorial issues in talks with the Palestinians.

They had returned to the Israeli town of Eilat, in the southern tip of Israel just across the Egyptian border, to prepare for the next round of talks when Barak summoned them again to Jerusalem.

On the third day of talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba, sources said that prospects existed for positive developments by the end of the week, although no one went so far as to say a breakthrough was in the offing.

The Israelis and Palestinians have been at loggerheads for months over four core issues -- Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, security and territory, including borders and settlements. On Tuesday, maps of the West Bank appeared to be emerging as the key to loosening the jam.

In a series of proposed bridging agreements, former U.S. President Bill Clinton suggested that Israel keep between 4 and 6 percent of the West Bank. But the Israelis said they wanted 11 percent.

But Israeli maps presented at the talks had scaled down the 11 percent to 7 percent in the context of a peace deal, the sources told CNN. The Palestinians provided counter maps.

Parties could start outline draft

No movement was reported on the other key issues -- particularly Jerusalem, including who will have control of contested holy sites in east Jerusalem, and the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to the lands they left since 1948, when Israel became an independent state.

Still, sources said that the progress reported was such that if it continues, the drafting of some parts of an outline agreement might begin.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the negotiators had divided into four teams to discuss the key issues separating the two sides.

"We are having serious, in-depth negotiations," Erakat said. "Gaps still do exist on all issues. We are exerting maximum efforts, but at the end of the day, the gaps are still there."

In Jerusalem, Barak told Israeli high school students that he believed a joint administration of the holy sites in the Old City would provide access to all religious groups but would not affect Israel's sovereignty over the Western Wall, the Mount of Olives and the City of David.

"In order not to have a split and divided city and in order to have free access to everyone to the sacred places, we need to respect the right of the believers and we have to find a way that the practical day-to-day administration of the Old City will be shared administratively," Barak said.

On Israeli radio, Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami acknowledged "an especially great willingness and seriousness from the Palestinian side" in the talks.

Israeli election looms

The talks were being conducted under the deadline of Israeli elections on February 6.

Barak is trying to strike a deal that could reverse his sagging fortunes in the polls, where he is trailing hawkish Likud leader Ariel Sharon by 16 to 20 percent.

Sharon has said if he wins he will not honor any deal negotiated by Barak. But both Israeli and Palestinian observers have said that if a deal is struck, Sharon will have difficulties ignoring it.

"The next government can of course wiggle out of an agreement," Shlomo Avineri, a former Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general told Reuters news service, "but it will find it extremely difficult to do it."

Palestinian political analyst Ghassan al-Khatib was more pointed in his assessment.

"No Israeli government can ignore that," he told Reuters. "The other side will not accept anything less."

CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna, Correspondent Jerrold Kessel and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Israeli Prime Minister's Office
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