ISRAEL: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last night he planned to meet his Palestinian counterpart, Mr Ahmed Korei, for talks "in the coming days", in what would constitute the most high-level Israeli-Palestinian attempt to renew the moribund road map peace plan in almost three months.
Mr Sharon made his remarks while speaking to Italian Jewish leaders during a visit to Rome.
Egypt, meanwhile, undaunted by its last effort to engineer an intifada truce, which collapsed in a spasm of bloodletting, tried again yesterday to convince the sides to agree to a new cessation of hostilities. Egyptian intelligence chief Mr Omar Suleiman, who was instrumental in truce efforts earlier this year, met Israeli officials and with Mr Korei and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Mr Suleiman invited all the Palestinian factions for talks in Cairo on Monday.
"Hopefully, there is a cease-fire and dialogue and many good things," he replied, when asked about the prospects of another truce as he left Mr Arafat's battered Ramallah compound.
Ending hostilities is crucial to reviving the road map. Unlike the previous truce, which was declared unilaterally by militant groups, Mr Korei says this time round he wants Israel to sign on as well. Palestinian officials say a truce would be attainable if Israel stopped assassinating leading militants and ended arrest raids in the West Bank.
The last truce survived almost seven weeks, but was tainted by sporadic Palestinian violence and Israeli arrest operations in which several Palestinian militants were killed. Hamas responded with suicide bombings, Israel hit back by targeting militants, and the ceasefire disintegrated.
Israel, for some time, has insisted a ceasefire can only work if the Palestinian Authority dismantles armed groups, as the road map requires. But there are now some official Israeli voices backing a truce even in the absence of an immediate Palestinian crackdown.
At home, Mr Sharon is under growing pressure to come up with a diplomatic exit from the violence, and might be more open to another truce proposal. But he will certainly reject one of Mr Korei's key demands - that Israel cease building a huge fence in the West Bank it says is meant to frustrate suicide bombers.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have indicated a willingness to consider a new truce.