Three dead in Gaza firefight

The attack came after Israeli troops moved into the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarem late Friday and early yesterday, searching for militant activity and clamping on curfews before withdrawing.

Tanks entering Jenin backed by helicopters shot and destroyed four small workshops but no one was injured, Palestinian security officials said. The army spokesman’s office said it was unaware of any tank fire. No arrests were reported.

Late last night, a rocket was shot from the Gaza Strip into a nearby Israeli community, but no injuries or damage were reported, the army said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials were dismissive of a reported plan under consideration by the administration of US President George Bush to create a provisional state of Palestine with limited sovereignty on the approximately 40% of West Bank and the two-thirds of the Gaza Strip under Palestinian control.

Instead, the Palestinians called for a firm timetable to establish a permanent state on all land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Advocates of provisional statehood, including US Secretary of State Colin Powell, say it could help restart peace talks and curb attacks on Israelis by restoring hope to Palestinians for an eventual final solution.

However, the administration has appeared divided on how to proceed and it wasn’t clear whether such a proposal will be made when Bush lays out his vision for the peace process. He was expected to address the issue in the coming week.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has noted the provisional statehood idea was similar to what he and Palestinian Parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia had worked out earlier this year in an attempt to end the violence. Their efforts, outlined in February, were met with scepticism, and to date, have gone nowhere.

Israeli government spokesman Gideon Meir said he did not want to comment on the idea of provisional statehood since the government had not yet formed a solid position on the idea.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said provisional states simply don’t exist in international relations and that Bush should focus on other angles.

’’A state is about power, about sovereignty,’’ Erekat said, noting the Palestinians had declared statehood in 1988 - a symbolic move never recognised internationally. ‘‘It’s time for this state to exercise its full sovereignty, its full independence. But this cannot be done until after the Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967, borders.’’

The Palestinians seek a state in all of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with a capital in east Jerusalem - all lands that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

According to the Boston Globe, Palestinian officials who were briefed by American officials said a provisional Palestinian state proposed by Bush would be able to conduct foreign relations, sign treaties and join the United Nations. The plan would leave unresolved the issues of borders and a capital, the Globe reported.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said Saturday that the Palestinians have received no official word from the Americans on the path Bush is expected to lay out.

He refused to speculate on what sort of borders or functions might be included in any provisional state, but said a timetable for true statehood is ‘‘an important Palestinian condition’’ for accepting any provisional plan.

’’All we know is that talking about an independent Palestinian state with some land still under occupation does not mean that this is a permanent state,’’ he said.

Israeli military officials also said soldiers had found a car full of homemade explosives near the Elei Sinai settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Lt Anatoly Karasik, deputy commander of Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip, said soldiers destroyed the car with tank and machine-gun fire.