TEL-AVIV (voa) – Israeli and Palestinian security officials have failed to agree on a ceasefire in talks chaired by U.S. Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni. But the two sides agreed to meet again in coming days.
The talks were held late Wednesday in Tel-Aviv, despite a Palestinian suicide bombing earlier in the day in northern Israel that killed seven passengers on a commuter bus.
Four of the dead were Israeli soldiers. Nearly 30 people were wounded. The Palestinian radical group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility. It said the bombing was revenge for Israel’s killing of Islamic Jihad members in recent military strikes.
President Bush said he is “frustrated” by the continuing violence in the Middle East, but he said U.S. efforts to cement a ceasefire will not stop.
U.S. officials say Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must take aggressive steps to stop anti-Israeli violence before any possible meeting with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombing. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the attack shows Mr. Arafat has not moved away from what Mr. Sharon called a “policy of terror.”
Late Tuesday, the Palestinian cabinet affirmed its commitment to the truce plan worked out last year by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet.
