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Mideast Ceasefire Breakthrough Reached in Wake of U.S. Terror Attack
JERUSALEM, Sept 18 (News Agencies) - A sudden breakthrough Tuesday brought hope after nearly a year of Middle East bloodshed, with Israel and the Palestinians launching a tentative ceasefire in a bid to end a conflict that some believe provoked the devastating attacks in the United States.
With a fragile calm having descended on the Palestinian territories for the first time in months, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said: "Undoubtedly, I think the time has come to meet."
In what Peres described as a potential turning point, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat announced he had reiterated his orders to security commanders to observe a failed June ceasefire that had been brokered by the United States.
"This morning I reiterated my orders to all my security commanders to act intensively in securing a ceasefire on all fronts, and in every town and village," Arafat told reporters in Gaza City.
"I also instructed them to exercise maximum self-restraint in the face of Israeli aggression and attacks, even in self-defense," he said.
Within hours, Israeli Defense Minister Benyamin Ben Eliezer responded with an order to his troops not to open fire on the Palestinians unless attacked, a defense ministry spokesman said.
And in bid to give the process a push, the army announced its immediate withdrawal from areas under full Palestinian control where it had set up security positions during military incursions to punish Palestinian attacks.
The withdrawal began within hours around the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinian officials said.
Peres said the ceasefire appeared to be taking hold, but the fledging truce showed signs of strain after just a few hours.
Three Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces, who said an army vehicle came under Palestinian fire and that a grenade was thrown at an Israeli position in the divided West Bank town of Hebron.
There were also four other armed attacks in the West Bank, while more than two dozen grenades were thrown at an army position in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
"I think it's the most significant thing that has happened in the last few months," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who stressed that the Israelis must move "immediately" to open talks and lift their stranglehold on the Palestinian territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday he would only allow Peres to meet Arafat if the latter ordered a ceasefire and strictly enforced 48 hours of calm.
Erakat also called for a senior U.S. diplomat to be present at the talks and for international observers to be deployed to monitor the ceasefire, something Israel has staunchly opposed.
The breakthrough came after the United States exerted massive pressure on both sides to find a way of tackling violence surrounding the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, which has left more than 800 people dead, most of them Palestinians.
In Washington, President George W. Bush welcomed the tentative ceasefire agreement and urged both sides to "move forward" with the Middle East peace process, the White House said.
"The president has called on all parties, and he reiterates it today, to seize this moment and do everything possible in the wake of this attack on the United States to move forward with the peace process in the Middle East," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
"The president welcomes the positive statements by Chairman Arafat for the exercise of maximum self-restraint and for a resumption of direct contacts between the parties," the spokesman said.
"The president hopes to see these steps implemented immediately, on the ground," added Fleischer.
"The president also welcomes the Israeli government's statement that has called a halt to its offensive military operations," said the official.
The Bush administration had kept its distance from the conflict before the massive terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last week.
But the aftershock of the attacks and Bush's building of a global coalition against terrorism appeared to have swept aside such differences and galvanized the stalled peace process.
In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also welcomed the tentative ceasefire, saying he hoped Israel and the Palestinians would now try to rebuild the peace process.
"All of us have been deeply disturbed by the escalating violence in the region in the last week," said Straw, adding that he "had hoped that the atrocities in the U.S. would have reinforced the need for concerted efforts to end the violence."
Arafat also offered his full support to Bush's worldwide crackdown on terrorism, winning Powell's thanks and praise.
"We have some promise this morning and let's hope that we can see some developments that will continue this sense of promise that is with us this morning," Powell said at a news conference in Washington.
The German television news channel NTV, meanwhile, said credit for the truce went to German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer.
Immediately after the attacks in the United States, Fischer spoke with Powell and the latter "gave Fischer the green light to work for calm in the Middle East," NTV said.
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