JERUSALEM, PALESTINE

At least three Israeli were killed and dozens were injured of whom several were in critical condition in the new bombing early today Arab town of Umm al Fahm.

Israeli Police said the bomber bordered the bus in the Wadi Ara area, a largely Israeli Arab region near the West Bank, and situated on the main highway between Hadera and Afula. When he entered the bus he moved to the center detonating the device.

"It was a big blast, I barely had time to turn around and the place was packed with emergency vehicles," Israeli witness said.

In soth-west of Jerusalem two armed Palestinians have been killed during the attack on the border Israeli Police in Jerusalem.

New bloodshed came only a day after Vice President Dick Cheney said he would meet Arafat if cease-fire is achieved, saying that "he would be ready to meet with Chairman Arafat in the period ahead" if he implemented and enforced the cease-fire blueprint drawn up by U.S.

A U.S. envoy Zinni planned talks on Wednesday with Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs on a truce plan that could get Yasser Arafat back in the good graces of the White House and out of Israeli-imposed confinement.

Ariel Sharon said that Yasser Arafat will be free to travel to an Arab summit next week if the Palestinian leader agrees to a cease-fire but hinted Arafat may not be allowed back should the violence persist while he is gone.

Arafat wants to attend a March 27-28 Arab summit in Beirut, at which Saudi Arabia is expected to present a proposal for broad Arab-Israeli peace in exchange for a return of the territories Israel occupied in 1967 - the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

These ideas have been welcomed by the United States and especially by European Union, but Sharon opposes a total withdrawal from territory he considers strategically valuable.

Palestinian officials had been angered over Cheney's refusal to meet Arafat during his visit here, saying it showed bias against their side. Erekat welcomed Cheney's promise to meet with the Palestinian leader if the truce comes through.

On the other side the Palestinian Authority has said its security forces have been hampered by the blockades Israel has clamped around Palestinian towns and villages during the nearly 18-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.

Israel's army has confined Arafat to his headquarters at Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, since early December and Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior Arafat adviser, said Sharon's remarks were "incitement and do not help further American peace efforts."

Those efforts will include the reconvening on Wednesday by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni of the U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian Trilateral Security Committee to follow up on its previous session on Monday.

The committee is dealing with the nuts and bolts of the Tenet plan which seeks a truce and an Israeli troop pullback to positions held in the West Bank and Gaza Strip before the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.

Under the plan, Palestinian authorities would be expected to arrest active Palestinian militants and confiscate illegal arms. The sides would then gradually move to full peace talks.