Phone box blast kills Palestinian

Sharon travels to the London and Washington for talks this week

JERUSALEM -- A member of the Palestinian Fatah group was killed when the public phone he was using exploded.

Osama Jawabreh, on Israel's wanted list, died on Sunday in the West Bank city of Nablus. Two children were also injured in the blast, Reuters news agency reported.

Fatah -- an organisation loyal to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat -- accused Israel of assassinating Jawabreh, 29.

Palestinians say Israel has killed some 30 key activists since the beginning of a Palestinian uprising against Israel in late September.

"With this assassination, (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has opened the gates of hell for the Israelis," Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Fatah member, was quoted by Associated Press news agency.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli army declined to comment on the incident.

CNN ACCESS Former Sen. Mitchell on Mideast, N. Ireland     MORE STORIES Settlers block key West Bank route   Jordan removes welcome mat for Palestinians

A woman who lived on the street where the blast occurred told Reuters that Jawabreh picked up the receiver and began to speak when it blew up. She said the explosion hurled him 4 m (13 feet) away.

The latest killing brings the death toll to eight Palestinians and six Israelis in the 11 days since a fragile U.S.-brokered truce took effect with the aim of ending nine months of fighting.

Almost 600 people -- the majority of them Palestinians -- have died in the violence since September.

The death came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was due to depart Sunday for London to see British Prime Minister Tony Blair, then on to Washington for talks Tuesday with President George W. Bush.

On the eve of his trip, Sharon told Jewish leaders in Jerusalem that the Palestinian Authority had not done enough to implement the cease-fire plan.

"It (the violence) has not stopped, even for one day," Sharon said in a speech.

"The repeated murderous attacks and violations of the cease-fire by the Palestinian Authority have forced us to start to reassess the situation."

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called for the U.S., via envoy William Burns, to protect Palestinians from Israel.

"We asked the U.S. to help us face the difficulties our people are facing on the ground from the settlers' violence, the army, the siege," Erekat told reporters.

While Burns held talks with Arafat over the weekend, the violence continued.

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man as he and two others tried to cross from Gaza to Israel, the Israeli Army said Saturday. The two others were taken into custody.

In Gaza, the fundamentalist Islamic group Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing Friday that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded a third, held a symbolic funeral for a 27-year-old activist in the group's military wing whom Hamas said was the bomber.

Israeli officials said the soldiers were hit when patrolling a road in northern Gaza. Palestinians reportedly signaled to the troops that a jeep bearing Israeli license plates was stuck and needed assistance. The vehicle exploded as the soldiers pulled alongside it.

Israeli bulldozers in two Gaza locations demolished several Palestinian houses and cleared farmland, an action the Israeli army said was necessary to prevent repeat Palestinian attacks.

Despite the violence, Arafat told reporters in his West Bank headquarters that the cease-fire can work.

"It is possible to restore the trust between our two people and move back toward a real political settlement," he said.

Burns stressed to Arafat "the importance the American administration attaches to both sides for fulfilling their obligations under the security work plan put together by (CIA chief) George Tenet."

PLO leader Yasser Arafat, right, walks with U.S. envoy Williams Burns before their meeting Saturday

"I look forward to continuing our discussions with the Palestinians and with the Israelis and also to staying in very close touch with others in the international community -- the European Union, the U.N. secretary-general, Russia, Egypt, Jordan and others," said Burns.

Top European foreign policy official Javier Solana has also been meeting with both sides in the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is preparing to undertake a similar mission on behalf of Bush next week. Powell said the first priority is for the level of violence to drop sharply and that he hopes to set a timetable for subsequent political moves.

Burns met Friday with Sharon, who said on Israeli television Saturday that a combination of military and political efforts was necessary to forge a lasting peace.

"The threat of military action and, where necessary, of military action, will bring the other side to engage in a political process," Sharon said.

Jewish settlers, pushing Sharon to unleash Israel's military might, tried to attack Palestinian vehicles. They were contained by Israeli police and troops.