Israel, Palestinians agree to resume security meetings

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shakes hands with U.S. diplomat William Burns on Sunday

From Sheila MacVicar
CNN Correspondent

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to resume security meetings, with the Palestinians saying the first meeting will take place Tuesday night.

The agreement to resume security contacts came after U.S. envoy William Burns shuttled between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon .

Sharon is said to be seeking real concrete measures that the Palestinians will agree to to curb the violence at the security meeting.

Arafat arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Russia, which has been eager to increase its diplomatic role in the region, will send a special envoy to the Middle East as early as next week, Ivanov said.

VIDEO Sharon talks to the CNN World Report Conference about peace, Arafat and the Mitchell Report (May 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) The Israeli settlers throw stones and break car windows (May 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    AUDIO CNN's Sheila MacVicar on what U.S. diplomacy hopes to achieve 347K/32 sec. AIFF or WAV sound U.S. diplomat William Burns: U.S. condemns terrorist attacks 455K/42 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    RESOURCES Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website) Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ Click here to download the reader.     ALSO 2 journalists kidnapped, freed in 'message' to U.S., Britain

"We speak in the same voice with the United States because Washington, too, is interested to stop the spiraling of tension and normalizing the situation in the region. It is important not only that we speak in the same voice but that we also act in coordination with one another, which Russia is in favor of," said Ivanov.

Arafat told reporters: "I told Foreign Minister Ivanov that we officially accept the joint Jordanian-Egyptian initiative as well as the report of the Mitchell commission and view those documents as a basis for rapid and resolute actions towards ending the dangerous escalation of developments in the Middle East."

Arafat said the Palestinians welcome "all efforts aimed at bringing peace because if we don't act quickly, there will be an explosion, not only in Palestine, but the whole region."

Burns has been attempting -- so far unsuccessfully -- to get both sides to agree to a timetable for the implementation of recommendations of the Mitchell report. The Mitchell committee was an international, independent panel appointed to look into the causes of Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted in September.

That committee's report, which Israel has also accepted, calls for an unconditional cessation of violence, a series of confidence-building steps, and ultimately the resumption of peace talks.

It calls on the Palestinians to crack down on terrorism. It also calls on Israel to freeze Jewish settlement expansion.

Both sides are said to have formed committees to work on timetables they are willing to follow to implement the Mitchell recommendations.

On the ground, militants calling themselves members of the Fatah Hawks kidnapped Joshua Hammer, the Jerusalem bureau chief of Newsweek, and Newsweek photographer Gary Knight in Gaza. (More on the kidnappings.)

The militants held the two for several hours before releasing them unharmed. They said the kidnapping was a warning to the U.S. and British governments, whose policies they said are pro-Israel. The group threatened further kidnappings and killings of U.S. and British citizens if the policies do not change.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the incident, saying journalists and foreign nationals will be protected. The Fatah organization said the kidnappers were not members of its group but activists in the Palestinian intifada who were acting on their own.

In another incident, the Israel Defense Forces said a Palestinian wearing a "TNT belt" blew himself up at a roadblock near Gush Katif in Gaza. Two IDF soldiers were wounded in the blast.

At the same time, the IDF said, a Palestinian began throwing grenades at soldiers at the roadblock. Soldiers fired, killing the man, the IDF said.

The IDF said they did not know if the two Palestinians were acting together.

An Israeli woman was killed and four others were injured, Israeli authorities said, in a drive-by shooting near the settlement of Neve Daniel on the West Bank.

The Israeli army said Palestinian gunmen killed Gilad Zar, 41, near the Palestinian-controlled city of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Zar was in charge of settlement security in the area.

Israeli settlers poured into the streets of Hebron in response, throwing stones.

Sharon, speaking to CNN, said a second Israeli also had died in Tuesday's violence.

Palestinian officials said a Palestinian died after being wounded in a shootout with Israelis near Jericho. Israeli authorities said the man was wanted by them. They also said three Palestinians were taken into custody.

Earlier, Israel said someone planted a bomb on a road leading to a settlement. In response, Israel shelled a Palestinian police station, injuring five policemen.