Top Palestinians, Israelis meet to discuss calming measures

Ariel Sharon

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Top Israeli and Palestinian security officials met overnight at an undisclosed location, a statement from the Israeli Defense Ministry said Friday.

The meeting came a few hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced new plans to create security "buffer zones" along the nation's borders.

Israeli-Palestinian violence continued Friday with the shooting death of a Palestinian, who set off an explosive device at a supermarket in the West Bank town of Efrat, according to the Israel Defense Forces. He was shot and killed by a security guard at the store, an IDF spokesman said. After he was killed, the IDF said, he was found to be wearing a belt packed with explosives.

Later in the day, the Israeli army reported one Israeli was killed when shots were fired at his car on the Jerusalem-to-Ramallah bypass road. No other details were available.

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At the overnight meeting, Avi Dichter, head of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service and Major-General Giora Eiland, chief of Israeli military operations, discussed security matters with Jibril al-Rajoub, head of preventive security on the West Bank, and Mohammed Dahlan, who holds a similar post in Gaza.

According to the Israeli Defense Ministry, "how to reduce the level of violence and to achieve a calm" was the goal of the session. An upswing in violence in the region has claimed 49 lives since Monday.

The Defense Ministry statement also suggested Israel was ready to step away from the tit-for-tat exchanges with the Palestinians.

"After Palestinian efforts to reduce violence, there will be a response from the Israeli side to alleviate conditions," the statement said.

According to the Defense Ministry, both sides have agreed that the high-level security meetings should continue.

Sharon announced Israel will create security buffer zones to separate Israelis from the Palestinians in a televised address, but offered few details about the zones.

Israel Radio, quoting senior Israeli sources, said that buffer zone plan calls for the creation of a zone between 200 and 300 kilometers long running north to south along the "1967 Green Line," the border Israel established on the West Bank after the Six Day War in 1967.

The sources were quoted as saying the buffer zone would initially be lined with concrete barriers and later with a fence. It would be similar to the fence area which now exists around Gaza, separating it from southern Israel.

The sources did not address whether there would be buffer zones around Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.

In his speech, Sharon called on Israelis to have patience. He said Israeli would not enter peace negotiations until the violence ends.

Sharon outlined a two-step peace process in which a ceasefire and demilitarization of the West Bank are followed by negotiations on a final peace settlement.

The Sharon address appeared to please no one. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Sharon was sending mixed messages.

"Is he now insisting to carry on with the peace process or not? This is the most important thing," Arafat told CNN Senior International Correspondent Walter Rodgers. "Or, he's insisting to continue this escalation, this military escalation against our people who are under their occupation, and we are [the] only people now all over the world under occupation."

Inside Israel, politicians on both the left and right were critical of Sharon's remarks. Parliament member Uri Ariel said Sharon was "consistently failing to deal with terrorism." Ariel said Sharon should have offered a plan for dismantling the Palestinian Authority.

Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg said Sharon "spoke of hope but offered no clear plan."

In another development, Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza early Friday. The troops went in Tuesday after six Israeli soldiers were killed in a roadblock ambush.