MIDEAST: American-led pressure for progress toward peace between Israel and Palestinians bore its first fruit yesterday with the news that Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, is to meet next week with the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas.
However, the considerable obstacles to any accord were underlined during talks held in Jerusalem by the US envoy, Mr William Burns, who is preparing the ground for a visit by his boss, the Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell.
Mr Burns stressed that both Israel and the Palestinians would have to make concerted efforts on the ground if the newly- launched international "road map" to Palestinian statehood was to come to fruition at what he called this "moment of opportunity". Israel had to take "concrete steps" to ease the "very difficult" Palestinian humanitarian situation, and Mr Abbas's new government had to "act decisively against terror and violence".
However, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Silvan Shalom, told the envoy that Israel could not ease restrictions on Palestinian movement until it was confident that Mr Abbas was destroying "the terror infrastructure" rather than merely reaching ceasefire deals with Hamas and similar groups.
And he added that there could be no substantive progress toward Palestinian statehood unless Palestinians abandoned their demand for a "right of return" for refugees to sovereign Israel - one of the obstacles which has derailed previous peace efforts.
Meanwhile, Israeli pathologists are examining the body of a British journalist James Miller (34), who was shot dead in Rafah, at the southern foot of the Gaza Strip, on Friday night.
The British Foreign Office has called for a thorough investigation into the killing of Miller, who was filming for a documentary. In footage of the incident, a single shot is heard as British journalists wave a white flag. Initially, the Israeli army said Miller was hit in the neck by their troops in the course of an army raid. Yesterday, however, Israeli military spokespeople said Miller might have been hit by Palestinian gunfire.
Also yesterday, the Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Shaul Mofaz, said the two British citizens involved in last week's Tel Aviv suicide bombing had smuggled in their explosives inside a copy of the Koran.
They had crossed into the West Bank from Jordan, then travelled through Israel into Gaza, and finally come back from Gaza to Tel Aviv.
In internal Israeli politics, Mr Amram Mitzna, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, announced last night that he was stepping down, blaming vicious party in-fighting.