Abbas praises U.S. security plan

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday praised a U.S. plan that aims to bolster prospects for renewed peace talks with Israel by setting dates for both sides to take confidence-building steps.

"The American document, which the Palestinian leadership has received, included important steps to achieve security in the Palestinian territories," Abbas was quoted as saying by the Palestinian official news agency WAFA.

The plan, Abbas said, was a first step toward "easing the suffering of the Palestinian people," WAFA reported.

The proposal calls for a "timeline" for so-called "benchmark" moves including a crackdown by Palestinian security forces on rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and an easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians.

In new violence, an Israeli aircraft attacked a car carrying an Islamic Jihad rocket-firing squad in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding one of the militants, the group said. Israel has said it would step up military operations to halt rocket launchings.

Islamic Jihad and other militant organizations, including al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Abbas's Fatah faction, urged Abbas to reject the U.S. plan. Israel has also voiced reservations over some aspects of the blueprint.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been expected to prod both sides to carry out the proposed benchmarks during an upcoming visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Rice was expected to arrive after a May 14-15 trip to Moscow but Israeli and Palestinian officials said the visit would be postponed due to the political crisis threatening Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.