The operation followed a gunbattle in the Brazil camp on Tuesday in which troops killed a Palestinian police captain. The Israeli army said a Palestinian sniper fired at an Israeli car in the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif near Khan Younis on Wednesday, lightly wounding the driver. Palestinians back the initiative. Israel now says it is willing to consider it, but opposes any new peace talks before violence ends and any blanket freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Peres, an architect of the 1993 Oslo accords, said the main obstacle was over terms for a cease-fire.
Palestinian officials deny reaching any such understanding.
Prominent Palestinian Faisal Husseini, who is also in the United States, said the ball was in Israel's court. Husseini, the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem, is due to meet middle-ranking State Department officials but not Powell. Copyright 2001 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.