Sharon takes offensive against Arafat to Bush

Israeli military action gave way to a political offensive yesterday as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon set out to convince the United States that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was not a worthy peace partner.

Sharon carried a dossier to the United States he said proved Arafat`s links to militant attacks on Israelis. An Israeli minister said peace between the Jewish state and Palestinians would be impossible while Arafat remained their leader.

A senior Palestinian official hit back, saying a plan Sharon was to outline to US President George W. Bush in meetings this week was merely a recipe for continuing the conflict.

In Bethlehem, negotiators pressed on with talks to end the Israeli army`s 34-day siege of Palestinian gunmen inside the Church of the Nativity - the last major confrontation remaining from an Israeli army offensive in the West Bank.

The winding down of the offensive and Israel`s end of its blockade of Arafat`s headquarters have shifted efforts back to the political arena.

Both sides were considering a US proposal for an international conference to bring them back to the negotiating table and halt the violence that flared when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out 19 months ago.

Sharon travelled to the United States yesterday and was booked for a Tuesday meeting with Bush, whose country is Israel`s strongest supporter but also backs the setting up of a Palestinian state.

Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat told reporters accompanying Sharon he was carrying a "long-term interim plan".

Israeli political sources have indicated it mirrored his previous proposal for an arrangement which would leave Israeli settlements in place in Palestinian areas - an idea at odds with the Palestinian drive for sovereignty.

Sharon will also hand Bush a government-compiled dossier, including documents seized in the West Bank offensive, which Israel claims will show Arafat directed a militant network and misused foreign aid funds to help finance it.

"Arafat is not a partner (for peace)," Livnat said. "If Arafat continues to lead the (Palestinian) government, we will be in for many more years of war."

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Sharon`s plan was not a beginning to resolving the conflict but "a recipe for the continuation".

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat dismissed the allegations in the dossier as "lies, forgeries and fabrication".

In Washington, US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, said Bush will hear out Sharon but Washington would not choose the leadership of the Palestinian people.

But Rice, appearing on "Fox News Sunday", said the United States was unhappy with Arafat`s perfomance and he must reform.

"We are going to call on Arab allies, the Europeans and others to press him, and we are going to be very clear that the Palestinian leadership that is there now, the Authority, is not the kind of leadership that can lead to the kind of Palestinian state that we need," Rice said.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said officials would listen to Sharon`s proposals but stressed "something has to be done" about the settlements. He was also sceptical about the idea of a security fence between Israeli and Palestinian areas.

"I don`t know if you`re going to solve the problem with a fence unless you`re solving the underlying problems of the Palestinians feeling disenfranchised," he said.

On another diplomatic path, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher met Arafat at his Ramallah base. Maher, whose country often acts as peace-broker, said on Saturday Israel must pull out of Palestinian areas before a peace conference could be discussed.

Arafat has welcomed a US proposal for an international peace conference this summer but said he wanted to consult Arab leaders before giving his final acceptance. Israeli officials said Sharon would seek more details from Bush in their talks.

In Bethlehem, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators tried to hammer out an agreement to end the standoff at the besieged Church of the Nativity.

The confrontation at the site revered by Christians as Jesus`s birthplace started on April 2 when Palestinian gunmen sought by Israel fled into the church as Israeli troops advanced into Bethlehem. Dozens of civilians, clergymen and Palestinian security men are also trapped.

After reviewing a list of those inside, Israeli negotiators said 42 were wanted for their suspected involvement in attacks on Israelis. They want them to choose exile or trial in Israel but Palestinian officials say they are willing to jail the men in Palestinian territory under foreign supervision.

The standoff prevented Orthodox Christians from celebrating Easter Sunday in the holy shrine.

Except for Bethlehem, Israel has withdrawn its forces from Palestinian-ruled cities occupied last month in its biggest offensive in 20 years. But troops have mounted short raids in Tulkarm, neighbouring Qalqilya and Nablus to round up militants the army says were preparing for attacks.

The Israeli army said troops mistakenly killed a Palestinian woman and two children in the West Bank yesterday.

The army said the three civilians were running away in fright after a roadside bomb exploded against an armoured patrol. The soldiers mistook them for militants, it said.

Israeli tanks fired machineguns at Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, wounding two youths, Israeli security sources said.

Israel sent its army into the West Bank after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings killed dozens of Israelis. A 74-year-old man on Sunday died of wounds from a bombing during the Jewish Passover holiday, bringing the attack`s toll to 29.

At least 1,343 Palestinians and 460 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.