JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday that wide-ranging peace talks aimed at ending the conflict with the Palestinians would not be renewed until their leaders took real action to prevent terrorist attacks on Israel.
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The summit had been expected to produce a joint cease-fire declaration formally ending more than four years of bloodshed. Such a declaration is one of the first requirements of the internationally backed “road map” peace plan, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state this year but has been stalled because of violence.
Sharon complains Palestinians stalling
As part of a package of pre-summit gestures, Israel approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners Thursday and agreed to withdraw troops from Jericho, the first of five West Bank towns Israel is expected to leave. The decision came after Palestinian security forces fanned throughout the Gaza Strip last week to prevent militant attacks on Israeli targets.
In a telephone conversation Friday with Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, Sharon said that Israel was working to bolster new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas but that the Palestinians had not reciprocated, taking no substantive steps to fight terrorism apart from the Gaza troop deployment, according to a statement from Sharon’s office.
Israeli officials have complained that Palestinian security forces have not arrested militants or tried to disrupt their weapons smuggling and weapons manufacturing networks.
On Friday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians who tried to sneak into Israel by climbing the security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli army. It was unclear why they were crossing into Israeli territory.
Palestinian officials want next week’s summit to restart the road map, but Sharon told Bondevik that new peace talks would be linked to tougher Palestinian action against militants.
“The prime minister stressed that getting into the road map will happen only after the Palestinians halt terrorist activity, dismantle the [terrorist] infrastructures and carry out governmental reforms,” the statement said.
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Palestinians reject prisoner release
Israeli officials say they view the summit as a limited meeting focusing on security issues and efforts to stop violence. Sharon wants to carry out his plan to withdraw from Gaza this summer before opening up wide-ranging peace talks, the officials said.
The Palestinians, for their part, rejected Israel’s gestures as insufficient, complaining that the planned prisoner release would free only people serving relatively short terms, not the veteran prisoners the Palestinians were seeking.
“It is not what we want. It is not what our people want,” Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Friday.
The new Palestinian leadership views the release of the 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as crucial to strengthening Abbas’ domestic support as he proceeds with peace efforts.
Despite the mutual criticism, international diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, praised both sides.
Speaking after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Rice said she would attend a March conference in London on reforming the Palestinian Authority and its security forces.
“I especially look forward to discussions about how we can sustain the momentum that is now developing to a resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict to get back onto the road map and to move ultimately to a two-state solution,” she said in London.
European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called the gestures courageous. “Further bold actions are necessary on both sides, but a promising start has been made,” she said in a statement ahead of her visit to the region Monday.
Meanwhile, Abbas held a meeting in Gaza of the PLO executive committee Friday night, the first of several sessions he was to hold before the summit.
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell in Berlin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Israeli and Palestinian flags
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palesinian President Mahmoud Abbas today declared an end to military and violent activities against each other. The two leaders made the expected announcement at a summit held at Shram el-Sheikh, Egypt, the first such meeting between the two sides in four years.

Prime Minister Sharon pledged to end military operations against Palestinians, and President Abbas similarly said that the Palestinians will likewise end "all acts of violence against Israelis....wherever they are". Both leaders expressed hope that the agreement will lead to long term peace in the long-running conflict. Prime Minister Sharon said that the agreement is part of the goal of "quiet, dignified and peaceful lives for all the nations in the Middle East". President Abbas said "the calm that is currently prevailing in our territories signals the start of a new era, the start of a hopeful peace." Both sides also confirmed their intent to create an independent Palestinian state. The talks became possible in the renewed optimism after the death of Yassir Arafat and the election of Abbas.

The agreement marks a profound change in Israeli-Palestinian relations, but the negotiated truce is a shaky peace. The ability of President Abbas to exert control over Palestinian militant groups is questionable, and thorny political issues remain for the Israelis if they begin to withdraw settlers from the occupied territories. There are signs that the Palestinian resistance groups are willing to participate in the cease-fire: the terrorist organisation, HAMAS released a statement in the hours before the summic stating that "was prepared to calm down resistance raids in the event the Zionist entity reciprocated," referring to Sharon's pledge to stop military activities, yet shortly after the summit a spokesman for the organization said it will not be bound by the cease-fire.

The agreement includes a pledge by Israel to release 900 Palestinian prisoners, to create join committees on prisoner release and the withdrawal of troops from Palestinian territories, and cooperation with Palestinian security forces in occupied areas.