JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian leaders have resumed cease-fire talks, but both sides fear that Palestinian militant groups are trying to sabotage negotiations before tangible results can be realized.
The Israeli army said security forces are pursuing an unprecedented number of warnings of imminent suicide bombings, a spike that coincided with the publicizing this weekend of the once-secret truce meetings.
"I'm sure that not all the terrorist organizations are happy with the fact that negotiations are going on," said Capt. Sharon Feingold, a spokeswoman for the Israeli army.
Yesterday, troops locked the West Bank and Gaza Strip under a tight military blockade. The "total closure" of the West Bank and Gaza, as the army described it, is one of the broadest of the 28-month conflict.
It prevents nearly all travel by Palestinians into Israel and between their own cities and villages during the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or feast of the sacrifice.
Feingold said at least 50 bombing alerts have been sounded. "We cannot take a chance," she said. "That is why we have sealed off the West Bank and Gaza until the holiday is over."
Yesterday saw its share of violence, according to Associated Press reports. Israeli soldiers, searching for militants in the West Bank town of Qalqilya, shot and killed an 8-year-old boy, Palestinians said. The Israelis said they opened fire after Palestinians assaulted them with firebombs.
In Bethlehem, Palestinians fired on an army jeep near the Church of the Nativity, Israeli officers said, killing an Israeli.
On Sunday, a leader of the militant group Hamas, speaking to reporters in Gaza, said meetings to discuss a cease-fire encourage the Israelis "to perpetrate more crimes against our people and to shed our blood. These meetings harm the higher national interests of the Palestinian people."
Without a cease-fire, the only way for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to end the threat of militant attacks to Israel's satisfaction is to confront Hamas, which he has been unwilling to do for fear of a violent showdown.
Last week, a Hamas leader issued what was taken by Palestinian leaders as a direct challenge to Arafat, by saying Hamas, which enjoys widespread popularity in Gaza, was ready to lead the Palestinian people.
"We are ready politically, financially and socially to lead the Palestinian people," Mahmoud Zahar told the Associated Press. Other leaders quickly distanced themselves from the statement, saying they had no intention of taking control other than through elections.
