Israeli soldiers clashed with Jewish settlers as the army began removing buildings Thursday at the West Bank settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar, the first inhabited outpost it has started dismantling under a new U.S.-backed peace plan.

Meanwhile, despite an intense push by Palestinian and international leaders to persuade militant groups to end attacks, a suicide bomber blew himself up in an Israeli grocery store, killing one man.

Israeli police officers scuffle with Jewish settlers trying to prevent troops from dismantling the settlement outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar near the northern West Bank Palestinian town of Nablus, Thursday, June 19, 2003. [Reuters]

The man was probably waiting to attack a nearby bus or bus stop in the village of Sde Trumot but panicked and detonated his explosives when the store owner became suspicious and approached him, police said.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

Several hours later, settlers scuffled with soldiers dismantling the Mitzpeh Yitzhar settlement. About 200 people from nearby Jewish settlements blocked the road to Mitzpeh Yitzhar with cars and burning tires. Settlers also set fire to underbrush and threw purple paint on armored bulldozers, limiting the visibility of the soldiers. Fifteen settlers were arrested, and 19 soldiers and policemen injured.

The year-old outpost consisted mainly of tents and had about 10 inhabitants. Last week, Israel removed 10 uninhabited outposts. Settler leaders had sued to prevent inhabited outposts from being taken down, but the Israeli Supreme Court rejected many of their arguments.

Taking down the unauthorized outposts and stopping Palestinian attacks on Israelis are key elements in the U.S.-backed "road map" to Middle East peace, which envisions an end to more than 32 months of violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

POWELL TO TRAVEL TO MIDEAST

In Dhaka, Banglades, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he plans to travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday in hope of restoring momentum to peace efforts. He would meet with Israeli officials in Jerusalem and then travel to "another location," probably Jericho, to meet with Palestinian officials.

Powell condemned the latest suicide bombing in Israel, saying "such acts of terrorism are committed by people who don't want to see two sides living side by side in peace."

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas held meetings Wednesday night with the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to get them to commit to end all attacks. Abbas planned to continue meetings with militant groups for a fourth day on Thursday.

As talks for a Palestinian cease-fire continued, so did the violence.

Palestinian gunmen killed a seven-year-old Israeli girl in a highway ambush Tuesday, and the Israeli army reported a string of overnight attacks on soldiers by Palestinian militants, none of which ended with fatalities.

SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS ISRAELI GROCER

Early Thursday morning, a bomber carrying a bag filled with explosives entered a grocery store in Sde Trumot near the West Bank, police said.

The attacker had likely entered the store to wait until the bus stop got more crowded or a bus came, police spokesman Yaron Zamir said.

The store owner, Avner Mordechai, 63, realized the man was a bomber and approached him, Zamir said. The attacker then detonated the explosives, killing Mordechai.

"We have no doubt that the store owner paid with his life to save others," Zamir said.

Sde Trumot, a small farming village in the Jordan River valley, is about three miles south of the city of Beit Shean and about the same distance from the northern edge of the West Bank.

The attack occurred just hours after the Palestinian premier's separate meetings with the main Islamic militant groups.

In a two-hour meeting, Hamas leaders left open the possibility it would halt attacks on civilians in Israel, but continued to insist on their right to target Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. However, serious discussions were under way, Hamas leaders said, reinforcing speculation an accord might be near.

"We are trying to find a solution which is good for all of us," Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab said.

In their separate meeting, Islamic Jihad leaders also insisted on the right to target Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza, Islamic Jihad leader Abdulla Shami said.

ISRAEL MAY ACCEPT CEASE-FIRE

Israel has said it might accept a temporary cease-fire of up to six weeks by the Palestinian militants, but then Abbas must forcefully crack down on the groups.

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the United States on Thursday, said he told U.S. officials that Israel saw a long-term cease-fire as a way for Palestinians to extract concessions from Israel while allowing violent groups to regroup.

"What we need to see is a dismantling of the terrorist organizations," he told Israel Radio on Thursday.

Participants in the truce talks said Israel's part of a possible cease-fire deal would be a commitment to stop targeted killings of suspected militants.

Last week Israeli helicopters struck three times in Gaza City, targeting Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was wounded, and commanders and militants of the Hamas military wing. Twenty people, most of them bystanders, were killed. Also last week, a Hamas suicide bomber on a Jerusalem bus killed 17 people.

Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Israel informed the U.S. administration it would continue to attack "ticking bombs," which he defined as terrorists carrying explosives, those who make bombs and send bombers, and militants firing rockets at Israeli villages.

Gissin added that Israel would stop all its military activities in areas where the Palestinians assume responsibility and make a "100 per cent effort to stop terror attacks."

In another proposal, Abbas is suggesting a joint political leadership including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Abu Shanab said.

The leadership would be headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and operate under the umbrella of the PLO, according to the official Palestine Media Center. Israel and the United States have been trying to sideline Arafat.

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