TEL AVIV, Dec 11: Top Israeli officials told US envoy Anthony Zinni during a security meeting on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) police had started making real progress in clamping down on hardliners.

“Israel said we see the start of a real fight against terror by the Palestinians,” security officials said.

The announcment was made during a joint Israeli-Palestinian security meeting hosted by Zinni in occupied Al Quds.

The US envoy asked Israel to refrain from attacking Palestinian targets for another 48 hours to give the Palestinians a chance to crack down on extremist groups, the security sources said.

Zinni said he wanted Israel to refrain from its relentless attacks on Palestinian Authority security posts to give them time to make good on pledges to arrest wanted guerillas.

The sources said the proposal would be submitted to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his consideration.

They added that a similar deal had been proposed by the US envoy at a trilateral security meeting on Sunday.

The Palestinian chief of West Bank preventative security, Colonel Jibril Rajub, accused the Israelis of violating the agreement with the attempted assassination in Al Khalil on Monday of a member of Islamic Jihad, which killed two Palestinian children.—AFP