Violence dropped sharply in the Gaza Strip on Thursday ahead of the planned deployment of Palestinian security forces ordered by President Mahmoud Abbas to prevent attacks by militants against Israelis. In what could be an initial sign of progress in Abbas's efforts to achieve calm, there have been no launchings since Tuesday of mortar bombs and rockets that have rained down daily on Jewish settlements in Gaza and frequently on southern Israel.
A reduction in bloodshed is crucial to keeping alive peace hopes stirred by the January 9 election of Abbas to succeed the late Yasser Arafat on a platform of ending more than four years of bloodshed.
At a rare meeting with top Israeli army brass on Wednesday, Palestinian officials presented a detailed plan for stationing Gaza security forces in field positions. A Palestinian security chief said they would fan out near the border within two days.
Israeli officials said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz approved the plan, opening the way for the deployment to begin.
"We believe in peace and negotiations and we want through negotiations to achieve peace," Abbas said in a speech for the Muslim holiday of Eidul-Azha.
Aides to Abbas said he had discussed with militant leaders this week the need for restraint to help ensure Israel pulls Jewish settlers out of Gaza this year as planned - a step it says it will not take "under fire".
At a Gaza prayer meeting, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, set terms for a truce, saying Israel must halt all military activity in the territory, leave checkpoints and free Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has said any cease-fire with Israel must be based on mutuality, but Zahar's statement was the clearest sign yet the group was considering Abbas's call for non-violence.
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