RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian militants are
sending “very positive” signals that they are ready for
a cease-fire with Israel, a top aide to the Palestinian prime
minister said yesterday, a day before Egypt’s intelligence
chief arrives for truce talks.

Cabinet secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh said in an interview with
The Associated Press that he is confident Israel and the
Palestinians can halt three years of fighting very soon. Whether a
cease-fire can hold, he cautioned, will depend largely on
Israel.

Abu Libdeh’s boss, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, hopes to
reach a cease-fire as a first step of resuming talks on the
U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan, which envisions full
Palestinian independence by 2005. The plan has stalled amid
violence and Palestinian political wrangling.

“The Palestinian factions are giving us very positive
indications,” Abu Libdeh said. “I think that if Israel
does not play around with us, they are willing to go as far as
possible … but it is all in Israel’s hands.”

Qureia said yesterday that truce talks with the militants would
begin soon after the arrival today of Egyptian intelligence chief
Omar Suleiman. The Egyptian, who has helped mediate past
cease-fires, is coming to assist Qureia in talks with Hamas and
Islamic Jihad.

It was unclear whether the two groups, responsible for dozens of
suicide bombings over the past three years, would participate in
the meetings.

Qureia hopes to persuade Islamic militant groups to end attacks
against Israel as a first step toward securing an
Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire. A cease-fire also could strengthen
Qureia, whose government was sworn into office last week. An
earlier truce — hammered out by his predecessor —
collapsed over the summer in a fresh wave of bloodshed.

That cease-fire was declared unilaterally by the militant
groups. Yesterday, Hamas’ political leader, Khaled Mashaal,
said his group would only consider ending the violence if Israel
reciprocates.

“If you can stop (Israel’s) aggression and get an
initiative from it and from America, then come to the Palestinian
resistance and we will study it,” Mashaal said yesterday in
Beirut, Lebanon.

Israel, however, has not said whether it would agree to halt its
military operations. Israeli officials have said they must continue
acting against what they term “ticking bombs” —
what they call militants who are on the verge of carrying out
attacks, although critics say officials define the term too
broadly.

Despite the misgivings, Abu Libdeh said he is confident the
fighting can be halted. “My analysis is that it will happen
for sure,” he told AP.

Abu Libdeh, who holds a doctorate degree in statistics from
Cornell University, has emerged as an influential voice in the new
Palestinian government. Closely involved in Palestinian contacts
with Israel and the United States, he indicated that progress is
already taking place behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Tulkarem
arrested a Palestinian acti0vist they said was armed. Naif Jarad,
47, a member of the Palestine National Council, a PLO body.

Public discontent has put new pressure on Sharon, a hard-line
former army general. Last week, four former chiefs of
Israel’s Shin Bet security service joined the chorus of
criticism, warning of a catastrophe if a peace deal is not reached
soon.

Yesterday, Israeli backers of an unofficial peace plan known as
the “Geneva Accord” began a mass mailing of the
document. The authors, which include former Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators, hope to build support for their proposal.

The plan would create a Palestinian state on nearly all the land
Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War, including disputed holy
sites in Jerusalem. In return, Palestinians would give up their
demand for a “right of return” for Palestinian war
refugees and their descendants to Israel.

Sharon has vehemently opposed the Geneva plan, but it has gained
enough traction in Israel to prompt a widespread debate.

Uri Zaki, spokesman for Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin, said
almost two million copies of the 47-page document were mailed to
Hebrew-speaking households. Arabic copies will be mailed out next
week to Israel’s Arab citizens, and copies are also being
distributed to the Russian-speaking population, he said.

On the Palestinian side, where mail service is sporadic, details
of the agreement are being published in newspapers. A copy appeared
in Sunday’s edition of al—Quds, an
Arabic—language paper published in east Jerusalem.