A senior Egyptian Government official has called on the Palestinians to implement a six-month moratorium on anti-Israel violence in order to kick-start a new peace process. Osama Al-Baz, the senior political advisor to Egypt President Hosni Mubarak, said that bombing attacks targeting Israelis did not advance the Palestinian cause. They gave the Israeli army a pretext for incursions into Palestinian areas, he told the BBC. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said the Palestinians did not object to a moratorium in principle, but would require some kind of reciprocal commitment from the Israelis. "You cannot tell people... to do that unless they see that the Israelis are going to reciprocate, and you can't force them to do it unless the Israelis allow us to rebuild our security forces," he said. Most Palestinians say the occupation of their land gives them a moral right of self-defence, whether by stone throwing or bombing attack. **Total Cessation*** This is not the first time the Egyptians have proposed a cessation of Palestinian intifada. They called for a one-year moratorium last year at a conference of Palestinian groups, but the proposal was never implemented. Shaath said they had been unable to persuade groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He added that the new "roadmap" for Middle East peace actually went much farther than calling for six-month moratorium on 'violence'. "It includes a total cessation of all 'violent' activities on both sides. All this is in the road map, which we have accepted and so far the Israelis haven't," he said. **Battle against 'Terrorism'*** Israel has expressed reservations about the plan but has not rejected it. The Israeli Government has said operations against Palestinian militants would continue so long as there was no "Palestinian battle against terrorism". Israel has repeatedly accused the Palestinian Authority of failing to try to stop attacks against Israelis since the Palestinian intifada (uprising) erupted in September, 2000. Israel wants to see the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas curb Palestinian fighters before it eases restrictions on the Palestinians. **New Attack on Jewish Settlements *** Meanwhile at least one Israeli settler was killed and two others were seriously wounded in a shooting attack Monday evening near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, northeast of Ramallah. At 10 P.M. shots were fired at an Israeli vehicle, in the Shvut Rachel area, hitting the three passengers. A civilian who passed the area in her vehicle a short time after transported two of the wounded to the IDF's Gitit checkpoint, in the Jordan Valley. Israeli investigators found M-16 and Kalashnikov rifle bullets where they believe the attacker opened fire on the car. They also found tracks leading away from the site, to a spot where they believe a vehicle was waiting to take the atacker away. Investigators believe that at least two persons were involved in the incident. Untill now no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the gunmen who carried out the attack have not been found. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinian youth throwing the stones on Israeli troops in Nablus (archive)