Palestinians Head To D.C., Too

The Palestinian foreign minister said Wednesday he will travel to Washington this month to discuss Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with senior U.S. officials.

Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said he would be meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on April 21. U.S. officials have said they will not make a decision on the Israeli plan until after the meeting with the Palestinians, he said.

Meanwhile, Israel and the U.S. have reached a tentative agreement on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. Under the plan, 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza would be dismantled. Israeli officials say the U.S. sees the withdrawal as an interim step that could revive the road map peace plan. Final details of the agreement will be worked out ahead of Sharon's meeting with President Bush at the White House next week.

In a separate development, Israeli troops in the West Bank clashed with Palestinian villagers trying to block bulldozers from clearing a path through their farmland for the security barrier Israel is building. At least 15 Palestinians were wounded, hospital officials said.

Shaath will be in Washington a week after Sharon discusses the withdrawal plan with Mr. Bush.

The Palestinians have said they would welcome a Gaza pullout, but only if it is an initial step toward a large withdrawal from the West Bank as well.

"This visit will be very important because we will be able to express our point of view regarding the various issues that are being discussed now, and it will come after Sharon's visit to Washington," Shaath said.

Sharon has said he expects to withdraw from Gaza in the coming year as part of his unilateral "disengagement" from the Palestinians. Sharon also said he would evacuate four small West Bank settlements and impose a boundary on the Palestinians.

Sharon repeatedly has said the Palestinians would receive more land in a negotiated settlement. However, he insists he does not have a Palestinian partner, and says his plan is meant to reduce friction between the two sides.

Sharon hopes to win Mr. Bush's endorsement for his proposal when they meet on April 14.

But Shaath said he has received American assurances that Washington won't make any decisions before talking to the Palestinians and other regional leaders. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II are also scheduled to meet with Bush this month.

"I don't think that they (the Americans) will take a decision regarding this plan before these meetings," Shaath said. "I think that Sharon wishes there would be such an agreement, but in fact I doubt it."

Shaath will be the most senior Palestinian official to visit Washington in months. The White House refuses to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The Palestinian Authority Wednesday, however, rejected a warning by the United States against inviting Hamas to join a unified Palestinian leadership.

Palestinian cabinet minister Saab Erekat told an Israeli news agency that the U.S. has no authority to intervene in internal Palestinian matters.

In the West Bank village of Bidou, meanwhile, Israeli workers cut down dozens of olive trees to clear land for the separation barrier, sparking clashes between stone-throwing villagers and Israeli troops who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Workers later replanted some of the tree stumps in another area, apparently without knowledge of the landowners, said a village leader, Mohammed Ayash.

Hospital officials said at least 15 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets.

Israeli police said three Palestinians were arrested and two Israeli border policemen were wounded by stone throwers.

"My olives, my olives!" yelled one elderly Palestinian farmer as he threw rocks at construction workers sawing away at his olive trees.

Israel says it is building the barrier to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers and gunmen. The Palestinians have denounced the divider as a land grab. It has disrupted the lives of thousands of Palestinians who have difficulty reaching farms, schools and jobs.

"When they made this wall, they damaged everything," said a villager.

In recent weeks, dozens of anti-barrier protests have erupted in Palestinian villages in the West Bank, particularly those near Jerusalem. Last month, three Palestinians were killed by army fire in such protests.

Also in the West Bank, Ibrahim Abu Alsari, 16, from the city of Nablus died of wounds he sustained Tuesday after a homemade bomb he was throwing at troops exploded in his hands, hospital officials said.

In Nablus clashes Wednesday, troops shot and wounded two Palestinians, the army said. One of the men was armed with a rifle and the other with a fire-bomb, the army said. It had no details on their conditions.

Three other Palestinians were lightly wounded when troops fired at stone throwers with rubber bullets, witnesses said.