Mideast clashes before U.S. talks

Sharon addressed a meeting of the America-Israel Friendship League on Monday

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- More shootings in the Middle East have prompted Israel to re-impose a blockade of Palestinians in the West Bank.

At least seven Israelis and two Palestinians were wounded Monday. Four of the Israelis were hurt when Palestinian gunmen fired on a Jewish enclave in Hebron, the army said.

The city has now been sealed off.

The latest fighting comes as Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, prepares to meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.

CNN's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel says Bush will publicly praise Sharon for Israel's recent military restraint while privately encourage him to show more flexibility in negotiations with the Palestinians.

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Koppel says U.S. officials question whether Sharon will be ready to soften his position on two key issues by the time Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in the region on Wednesday.

These are his demand for "zero Palestinian violence" before Israel implements confidence building measures -- like permitting Palestinians to return to their jobs in Israel -- and his refusal to freeze future growth of Israeli settlements.

Sharon arrived in the U.S. as Palestinians blamed Israel for the killing on Sunday of a member of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, while Sharon told the U.S. magazine Newsweek that Arafat was standing in the way of peace.

Arafat, who was a regular guest of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, has yet to be invited to the White House by Bush.

Referring to Arafat and the quest for peace in the turbulent Mideast, Sharon said in the July 2 issue of Newsweek that "if he were not here, it would be easier."

While acknowledging "it is not up to us to decide who leads the Palestinians," he said, "more and more of our intelligence people believe he is an obstacle to peace. ... I think Arafat is an obstacle."

Sharon left Israel on Sunday and made a stop in London, where he held a brief meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is scheduled to meet with Bush on Tuesday in Washington.

In his meeting with Blair on Sunday, Sharon called for a complete end to violence before peace negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians could continue. It was the first time the two leaders had met.

Sharon was expected to deliver the same message to Bush, whom he will be meeting with for the second time since the two men each took office earlier this year.

Before traveling to Washington, Sharon is in New York to address the America-Israel Friendship League and to meet with supporters and local Jewish leaders.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials called the death of 29-year-old Osama Jawabreh an assassination. Officials said Jawabreh, who died in an explosion at a public telephone in Nablus, in the West Bank, on Sunday, was on an Israeli wanted list.

Marwan Barghouti, Fatah leader in the West Bank, said Israel's government is "pushing the situation for more escalation and more confrontation."

"By this assassination, I think the Israeli government decided to end the cease-fire. More than that, the Israeli government destroyed the security understanding between the two sides," Barghouti said.

Israeli officials declined comment on the Palestinian accusations.

When Israel buried two soldiers killed by a suicide bomber in Gaza on Friday, Sharon had said he might revoke his proclaimed policy of restraint.

"We are suffering casualties daily," Sharon told an audience of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. "The repeated murderous attacks and violations of the cease-fire by the Palestinian Authority has forced us to start to reassess the situation."

Sharon, speaking to reporters on Sunday after his 70-minute meeting with Blair, did not mention Jawabreh's death. But a senior official traveling with Sharon told reporters that Jawabreh's name was on a list of suspects whom Israel asked the Palestinians to arrest on Friday.

According to the official, Israel gave the Palestinians 24 hours to make the arrests before it would take matters into its own hands. No one was arrested, the official said.

On Thursday, Powell will follow Sharon back to the Middle East in hopes of taking political steps beyond the cease-fire. Palestinian leaders are telling U.S. diplomats the cease-fire won't hold unless the clock on political action starts ticking right away.

"We must see a timeline expediting the Israeli obligation, the Israeli compliance with the freeze of settlement activity and the resumption of permanent status negotiations," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Richard Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador and State Department official, said Powell's visit would help show moderate Arab states the Bush administration won't turn its back on them.