TEL AVIV, Israel, May 18 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon postponed his trip to Washington Sunday and summoned a Cabinet meeting after two suicide blasts over the weekend killed nine Israelis and wounded 20 others.
Sharon was due in Washington to discuss the "road map" to peace in the region. He was to meet with President Bush Tuesday.
The bombings – one Sunday and the other late Saturday – came before and after Sharon met with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen. Saturday night's meeting was the highest-level talks between the two sides since the second intifada began nearly three years ago.
It is unclear how the bombings will affect the still-mordant peace process.
The Palestinian Authority's State Information Service reported that during the meeting, Abu Mazen demanded Israel accept the "road map," which has been proposed by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, before the Israeli leader leaves for Washington. The Palestinians have accepted the plan though Israel has several reservations, which Sharon was expected to raise with U.S. officials during his visit.
Sharon was to meet with his Cabinet at 6 p.m.
Education Minister Limor Livnat confirmed there was no majority in the Cabinet for accepting the plan "in its present form." Fifteen amendments had been demanded, she said.
The weekend bombings may stiffen resistance to talks with the Palestinians. After their meeting, a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said: "A cessation of terror is a vital first step to any progress and the Palestinians promised to make a genuine and real effort to stop terror."
Sunday's attacks in Jerusalem killed seven people and wounded 20. Shortly before 6 a.m., the bomber, dressed as an observant Jew, boarded a bus heading toward central Jerusalem. He blew himself up in the front of the bus, police said.
The suicide attack, the first in Jerusalem in seven months, occurred near an intersection that links Jewish neighborhoods in northeast and west Jerusalem, with the highway linking the Palestinian neighborhoods north of Jerusalem and the main road to the Old City.
The Palestinian Authority's Information Minister Nabil Amer strongly denounced the blasts, adding his government was taking measures to avert future attacks.
A few minutes later, another militant blew himself up near a Border Police roadblock on the Jerusalem-Ramallah road. There were no casualties.
On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed an Israeli man and his pregnant wife in the West Bank town of Hebron. Israeli and Palestinian sources said he was also disguised as a religious Jew.
Israel radio said the Hebron and Jerusalem bombers were neighbors.
The Hebron bomber was identified as Fuad al-Kawasmeh, 22 of Hebron and the bus bomber as Basem Jamal Takruri, 19. The two are believed to be Hamas members. A court order banned publication of the e-Ram suicide bomber's identity.
The bombings and the meeting come after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with both leaders last week to urge them to begin talks on implementing the "road map," which calls for a series of reciprocal steps to address Israeli security and, ultimately, an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
But there are several sticking points.
During their meeting, Livnat said, Sharon told Arafat Israel would evacuate several areas in the northern Gaza Strip to let the Palestinians assert their authority there and prevent attacks.
"Prove you are fighting (terrorist) infrastructure and then we can really talk about gestures, easing up and concessions," she quoted him as saying.
The Palestinian Authority's State Information Service said Israel had wanted security enforced in one month. The Palestinians, however, said they needed at least three months. The Palestinians also said they would accept nothing before Israel officially accepts the "road map." Sharon says, however, Israel wants security to be achieved before anything else happens.
The "road map" also calls for a freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories, which Sharon is reluctant to do.
In addition, Israel has reservations about the monitoring group that would verify compliance with the "road map." Sharon's media advisor Raanan Gissin noted the Iraqi government managed to elude international inspectors.
Israel has said that Palestinian Authority President leader Yasser Arafat continues to urge his followers to step up attacks against Israel and undermine Abu Mazen. Both Israel and the United States had refused to deal with Arafat and had said that talks were only possible when the Palestinians chose a new leader. The Palestinians then elected Abu Mazen, the architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel.
In other developments Sunday:
-- The Israeli Army fired heavy artillery toward Palestinian-owned houses in the Khan Younis refugee camp, south of the Gaza Strip, killing an 18-year-old Palestinian, Palestinian sources said. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman people were seen digging near the area and were fired upon by soldiers; others, seen planting a bomb, were also fired upon. Palestinians have planted bombs and fired there in the past, the spokesman said.
-- Israeli troops killed two armed Palestinian near the settlement of Ganei Tikva, northeast of Tel Aviv. The two reportedly belonged to the armed wing of Arafat's Fatah, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades.
(Saud Abu Ramadan, in Gaza, contributed to this report)
