Sharon: Truce hinges on week without violence

JERUSALEM (AP) - In a tough speech ahead of his U.S. trip, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today he will not budge from a demand for a week without Palestinian attacks as a condition for carrying out a U.S.-backed truce deal.

Violence persisted, with witnesses saying Israeli soldiers opened fire on a Palestinian car at a West Bank roadblock. Israeli media reported that two Palestinians were killed, and the Israeli military was checking. The witnesses said soldiers were blocking a main road, and a car did a high-speed U-turn as soldiers opened fire.

Sharon was to leave later today for a five-day trip to the United States, including a meeting with President Bush at the White House. U.S. officials have not come out publicly in support of Sharon's condition.

Palestinian officials said that the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, made no reference to seven days of calm in a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday. The Palestinians say Sharon's demand is a ploy to get out of Israeli obligations, including a freeze in settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip once a truce is in place.

However, Sharon said he was ready to carry out all agreements to the letter, provided the Palestinians prove they are serious about stopping attacks on Israel.

"It will be seven days, not one hour less," the prime minister told Israeli newspaper editors today. Sharon again accused Arafat of having built a "coalition of terror.."

The prime minister also reiterated that the U.S. leaders originally consented to his demand for a week of calm. "We will protect our right of self-defense and will carry it out, but we will not be dragged into a war," he said.