Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised new reformist Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday as a ‘‘partner’’ for peace and said he was ready to revive negotiations with Syria.But violence persisted just two days before US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to the region for the first time in 13 months to promote the road map. A Palestinian militant was killed by a helicopter missile fired into his car in the Gaza Strip. A US State Department spokesman criticised the ‘‘targetted killing’’ as counter-productive to peace efforts.Later, a militant from an armed offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction detonated an explosives-laden car near soldiers guarding a Jewish settlement in Gaza, but ended up killing himself. Israeli troops also shot dead three Palestinians, two at checkpoints and one in a violence-torn refugee camp.Sharon, in an unusual batch of TV interviews preceding Powell’s arrival, said the moderate Abbas’s induction as the first Palestinian Prime minister last week was a positive signal. ‘‘I know him well. I have met him a number of times,’’ Sharon said. ‘‘I have no problem shaking his hand.He is one who understands it is not possible to defeat Israel with terror. I see him as a partner.’’ Sharon said he was ready to reopen peace talks with Syria without preconditions, three years after they floundered over the future of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. (Reuters)
