Palestinian leader Abbas praises US security plan

GAZA, May 7 (Reuters) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today praised a US plan that aims to bolster prospects for renewed peace talks with Israel by setting dates for both sides to take confidence-building steps.

''The American document, which the Palestinian leadership has received, included important steps to achieve security in the Palestinian territories,'' Abbas was quoted as saying by the Palestinian official news agency WAFA.

The plan, Abbas said, was a first step toward ''easing the suffering of the Palestinian people,'' WAFA reported.

The proposal calls for a ''timeline'' for so-called ''benchmark'' moves including a crackdown by Palestinian security forces on rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and an easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians.

Abbas met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas late today to discuss the American proposal and the overall security situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, which leads a Palestinian unity government, rejected the US plan, under which Abbas would start deploying his Fatah-dominated forces by mid-June to halt rocket fire and smuggling by Gaza militants.

''The government stressed that it did not receive the plan, pointing out that the movement of people and citizens cannot be swapped for the national rights,'' government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said.

Since Hamas has rejected the plan, Abbas and Haniyeh discussed the idea of a ''cooling down'' period instead, Abbas aide Nabil Shaath said.

Islamic Jihad and other militant organizations, including al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Abbas's Fatah faction, urged Abbas to reject the US plan. Israel has also voiced reservations over some aspects of the blueprint.

In new violence, an Israeli aircraft attacked a car carrying an Islamic Jihad rocket-firing squad in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding one of the militants, the group said. Israel has said it would step up military operations to halt rocket attacks.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been expected to prod both sides to carry out the proposed benchmarks during a planned visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Rice was expected to arrive after a May 14-15 trip to Moscow but Israeli and Palestinian officials said the visit would be postponed due to the political crisis threatening Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack suggested Rice was putting off the trip because of the Israeli political turmoil.

''I would not expect, on this trip, that she would travel to Israel and the Palestinian areas,'' he said.

''There's obviously a lot of politics in Israel that they are working through at this point but we are going to continue our efforts to advance the Israeli-Palestinian track.'' It was not clear when Rice would return to the region.

REJECTED BY MILITANTS Khaled al-Batsh, a leader of Islamic Jihad, which has been behind many of the rocket attacks, said the group would hold a dialogue with Abbas on settling their differences but urged him to reject the plan, saying: ''No one can stop resistance.'' ''The U.S. plan is totally rejected. We urge President Mahmoud Abbas not to deal with it because it aims to satisfy Israel's security and cause internal tension among Palestinians,'' said Batsh.

Abbas's aides said the president was willing to work with the US plan, albeit with amendments, but accused Israel of torpedoing the proposal.

Olmert's office said he recognized the ''significance of taking trust-building steps to show the Palestinian civilian population that a change is taking place.'' Western diplomats said they expected Israel to agree to some steps in the plan and to try to negotiate changes to others.

Israel has called the proposal positive but said it could not commit to some of the benchmarks, which include removing several military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, because of security concerns.

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