GAZA (Reuters) - A Palestinian was killed early on Saturday in a mysterious explosion in an abandoned building in southern Gaza after a day of intifadha confrontations that flared despite heightened efforts to arrange top-level truce talks. (Read photo caption below)The explosion -- which Palestinian officials suspected occurred when explosives went off prematurely at a hide-out used by Palestinian Resistance men -- underscored a day of simmering violence in which at least six Palestinians and an Israeli were wounded.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on Friday he and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat planned to meet next week and then hold two more sessions after an interval to forge a truce following 11 months of a Palestinian revolt against Israeli occupation in which 700 people have died.
The Palestinian cabinet said after its weekly meeting in Gaza on Friday that ``it's impossible to separate between security and diplomacy,'' a reiteration of its position that peace negotiations should take place hand-in-hand with cease-fire talks.
Sharon has said he will not resume peace negotiations ''under fire'' while the 11-month-old Palestinian revolt, which erupted after peace talks stalled, rages on.
Palestinian officials said that on Sunday Arafat would tell Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief who helped broker the coming meetings with Peres, exactly when the first session would be held. No venue has yet been set.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Palestinians burn a mock U.S tank during demonstrations in the West Bank city of Ramallah September 7, 2001. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has given Foreign Minister Shimon Peres only a limited mandate for planned talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat next week, Israeli political sources said. (Osama Silwadi/Reuters)