Israel tightened its blockade of three West Bank towns early Friday over fears of another Palestinian bomb attack, security officials said.
The army tightened controls near Bethlehem, Ramallah and Qalqilya to prevent Palestinians from circumventing roadblocks and enter Israel, a military spokesman said, cited by AFP.
Police also set up road blocks on the main thoroughfares in northern Israel, in particular in the Haifa area, at entrances to the port, and the Hadera region northwest of Tel Aviv.
Police were also in a state of heightened alert in Jerusalem following information of a possible bomb attack.
A state of emergency was declared in Haifa Thursday after police received "specific information" that a suicide attack was planned in the area, said Radio Israel.
The radio station said police were deployed heavily in the Haifa region and main junctions leading there from the north.
Heavy traffic jams were reported as a result of the preventive security measures.
At the political level, US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed Thursday on the need to break the escalating cycle of violence in the Middle East, a White House spokesman said.
Bush, who telephoned Sharon from his Texas ranch, also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of a recent spate of Palestinian suicide bombings, said national security spokesman Sean McCormack.
"Both leaders agreed on the need to avoid escalating the situation in the region," as well as moving forward with the blueprint for peace crafted by an international panel headed by former US senator George Mitchell, and the cease-fire plan by CIA director George Tenet, said McCormack.
Haaretz reported Friday that Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in recent days presented to United States envoy to the Middle East David Satterfield and US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer a cease-fire proposal for Israel and the Palestinians.
The basis of Peres' proposal is a gradual reduction of tensions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, area by area. According to Peres, the Israeli demand for seven days of absolute quiet as a pre-requisite for a resumption of negotiations is unreasonable. Accordingly, he proposed to divide the West Bank and Gaza Strip into areas, and to work on restoring calm and order separately in each area, until a total cease-fire has been achieved.
According to the initiative, both sides will separately discuss ways to reduce the violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank towns of Nablus and Bethlehem, as well as in other areas. Each area is to have a special "menu" of actions to be taken by both sides. The Palestinian Authority will be required to take measures to restore security and Israel will withdraw its troops and ease the closures on the Palestinian population in those areas.
According to the report, Peres proposes that Gaza be the starting point for the steps. He believes that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has relatively wide control in the Gaza Strip and therefore can take steps to calm the situation. Peres is worried about the economic crisis in the Gaza Strip, where residents are more dependent on Israel for work than their counterparts in the West Bank.
Peres also promised to work on solving the problem of the border crossing at the Karni industrial area. According to agreements, the industrial area should employ some 15,000 Palestinians, but only 600 are currently employed there as the PA is the body responsible for security in the area.
As well as calming tensions on the ground, Peres proposes that there has to be an end to the incitement from both sides. The foreign minister believes that Arafat must give public speeches promoting peace and condemning violence and the Israeli government must control its rhetoric on the Palestinians.
The US administration said that it was impressed by the idea, but was unsure if Arafat would be ready to implement such a proposal, according to Haaretz – Albawaba.com
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