JERUSALEM (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a fresh Middle East peace push, was due for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of January`s election of a successor to Yasser Arafat.
Powell`s meetings with the Palestinian caretaker leadership mark a new departure following Washington`s long boycott of Arafat. The outgoing secretary of state has not visited since May last year.
For the Palestinians, the talks mark the start of a week of high-level diplomacy, with Powell due to be followed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday.
Powell`s meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem on Monday will focus on "the political process of a solution with the Palestinians," a senior Israeli source told AFP.
Israel`s Haaretz and Jerusalem Post newspapers said the secretary of state, seen as the leading dove in Washington, would urge Israel to withdraw troops from Palestinian cities to facilitate a fair ballot.
Quoting unnamed officials, Haaretz said Israel is expected to bow to an American request to pull back, remove roadblocks, lift travel restriction and limit military activities in the run-up to the January 9 election.
"Israel is ready in every way to support the Palestinian elections, but will not compromise on security matters," the Israeli source told AFP.
Rawhi Fattuh, Arafat`s temporary stand-in as Palestinian Authority president, has called on Israel to withdraw to military positions it held before the Palestinian uprising broke out in September 2000.
After his talks in Jerusalem, Powell is scheduled to meet Palestine Liberation Orgbanization chief Mahmud Abbas and Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei in the West Bank city of Jericho.
He will then head to Egypt to brief the three other powers behind the roadmap peace plan -- the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
Already Arafat`s successor as PLO chairman and widely tipped to win the January vote, Abbas is seen by Washington as a key voice of moderation.
On Sunday afternoon, Qorei was to meet Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns to prepare for the Powell meeting, a Palestinian official said.
Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath has said the talks will focus on the upcoming election and "a working plan based on implementing the roadmap".
The peace blueprint set a 2005 target date for Palestinian statehood but has made virtually no progress since its launch last year.
Despite stressing that their "real test" is yet to come, Powell has applauded the manner in which the Palestinians have dealt with the transition of power since Arafat died 10 days ago in a Paris hospital.
"They seem to be coming together but the real test is how they actually perform," he said Wednesday, citing the first litmus test as the election.
Powell is to be formally replaced as secretary of state by national security advisor Condoleezza Rice once her nomination has been approved by the Senate.
On the ground, a 20-year-old Palestinian gunman was killed and another fled after they opened fire on a car carrying Jewish settlers in the southern Gaza Strip, according to a joint statement by two militant groups.
Khalil Mohammed Shahata of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was killed after he and an Islamic Jihad militant attacked the settlers with a machine gun and a hand grenade, the statement said.
The Israeli military said "one armed Palestinian was apparently killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire" in southern Gaza but it was not immediately clear if it was talking about the same incident.
Since the current Palestinian uprising broke out, 4,581 people have been killed, including 3,546 Palestinians and 961 Israelis, according to an AFP count.
11/21/2004 - 11:46 GMT - AFP