Erakat blasts Israel settlements; security talks resume

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli and Palestinian security officials finished more talks Wednesday as a Palestinian official accused Israel of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

No details were immediately available from the latest security discussions, which followed an initial meeting Tuesday.

Meanwhile, chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of saying in English he accepts the Mitchell report on Middle East peace while issuing orders in Hebrew for the expansion of Jewish settlements.

Erakat, speaking Wednesday via satellite to CNN's World Report Conference, said that while Sharon was telling the same conference Tuesday that Israel accepts the terms of the Mitchell report -- including its call for a ban on settlement activity -- his housing minister was announcing the addition of more than 700 new housing units to existing Jewish settlements.

"Mr. Sharon must understand he has to decide between settlements and peace. He cannot have both," Erakat said.

Wednesday's meeting between the two sides, accompanied by U.S. officials, was the first contact between Israeli and Palestinian security officials in a month.

The talks resumed despite continued violence: A car bomb went off Wednesday near a school in an industrial zone in the coastal city of Netanya, Israel, police said.

VIDEO Erakat talks to the CNN World Report Conference about peace, Arafat and the Mitchell Report (May 30) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) 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

Later Wednesday, Palestinian sources claimed that Israeli tanks shelled Palestinian police posts near the Kissufim crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Israeli army sources said they were checking into that report, but said a mortar bomb had been fired at Israeli positions near the crossing. No injuries or damage were reported.

The violence claimed six more lives Tuesday, including two Israeli women and a suspected Palestinian suicide bomber.

Tuesday evening's meeting took place in Ramallah on the West Bank. Officials are seeking a way to curb the killing, restore peace in the region and find a way to implement the recommendations of former Senator George Mitchell's report on the Middle East.

The Palestinians said they wanted the report implemented as a total package while the Israelis wanted to discuss specific issues raised in the report, such as the call for a ceasefire, the official said.

The meeting came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must stop the violence if he wants to be a partner for peace.

Arafat, who is in Moscow for a meeting with Russian officials, warned that if action was not taken quickly, an "explosion" would rock the Middle East.

The agreement to resume security contacts came after U.S. envoy William Burns shuttled between Arafat and Sharon, seeking to persuade both sides to set a timetable for implementing the Mitchell report.

Sharon said he was ready to negotiate, but only after the violence stopped.

The Israelis have told Burns they want a ceasefire first, followed by confidence-building measures and then negotiations.

The Palestinians say they are pushing for a comprehensive package -- including a freeze on Israeli settlement activity -- that would be put in place immediately.

Sharon told CNN: "I know that Chairman Arafat is not here now, and that usually, when he leaves, he leaves behind instructions for more terror and violence.

"That's exactly what happened. He left yesterday afternoon or evening. Immediately, it was a new wave of terror. That's the way he's being doing for a long time.

"But I still expect that the free world will demand from Arafat to stop murder, to declare a ceasefire, so we'll be able to move forward. I would like to move forward in order to achieve peace in the region."

Arafat said he accepted both the Mitchell report and the Jordanian-Egyptian initiative, agreed to in Cairo last month, which calls for Israelis to pull back to its positions of September 2000, an end to the blockade on Palestinian areas, a blanket freeze on settlement construction and a resumption of security co-operation between the two sides.

Arafat said the Palestinians welcomed "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."