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Powell reports progress in Mideast talksArrests and injuries as illegal settlement closed
(CNN) -- A day before his planned peace mission to the Mideast, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday said "some progress is being made" in truce talks between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian militant groups. In an effort to advance the U.S.-initiated plan, or road map, for Mideast peace, Abbas and other Palestinian Authority officials have been negotiating with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades for a cease-fire of attacks against Israel. "Some progress is being made with respect to security arrangements as well as continuing discussions with Hamas and other organizations with Prime Minister Abbas," Powell said Thursday during a visit to Bangladesh. The military wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for attacks on Israeli military and civilian targets, as have the other groups. All three groups are considered terrorist organizations by the United States and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that Israel will not compromise on security issues. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Israel must end its targeted killings of militant leaders. Powell's comments came as a bomb carried by a Palestinian exploded in an Israeli grocery store, killing the Palestinian and the store's owner, Israeli police and medical sources said. The bombing occurred in the northeastern farming community Sde Trumot, north of the so-called Green Line separating the West Bank and Israel. Police said they suspect the bomber may have prematurely detonated his explosives. It was unclear whether he intended to kill himself or plant the explosives. The 63-year-old store owner was rushed to a hospital, where he later died, according to Israeli medical sources. In a phone call to news agencies, Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing, which happened hours before Abbas held talks with the militant groups in Gaza. Powell denounced the attack. "We condemn such acts of terror, such acts of terror are perpetrated by those who don't want to see two states living side by side in peace," he said.
"They want to destroy the hopes and dreams of the Palestinian people, and we can't let these acts of terror keep us from ... that possibility. So we have to keep moving forward." Powell intends to go to Jerusalem on Friday to meet with the Palestinian Authority. U.S. President George W. Bush's Mideast envoy, Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf, has been in the region since Saturday trying to negotiate an end to the violence, which worsened last week. Wolf met Thursday with Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Settlement dismantledIsraeli border police and other Israeli police forces completed the dismantlement of an illegal settlement outpost late Thursday in the West Bank, officials said. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said some 700 police officers and 500 IDF forces were at the illegal Mitzpeh Yitzhar outpost at one point during the day. Jewish settlers had barricaded themselves inside the settlement, fighting efforts to remove them. Four police officers and two IDF soldiers were wounded in the fracas and 15 other police and soldiers suffered minor injuries, the spokesman said. Twenty-one Israelis were arrested, the spokesman said. The Israeli government has so far torn down about a dozen uninhabited illegal Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, in accordance with Sharon's pledge at the Aqaba, Jordan, summit earlier this month.
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