JERUSALEM, 15 January 2005 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will refuse to meet Mahmoud Abbas until the new Palestinian leader moves against fighter groups behind an attack that killed six Israelis in Gaza, Sharon’s spokesman said yesterday.

“Israel is severing all planned contacts with the Palestinians on all levels, from security to government leadership,” spokesman Assaf Shariv said, a day after the assault that defied Abbas’ calls for nonviolence.

“Everything is canceled until they take steps against terror, so we can see there is not only talk but also action. Abbas knows who carried out the attack, so he will be the one to stop them. It’s very easy,” he said.

He said Sharon’s aides had informed European, British and American officials of his decision as well as Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat.

Erekat slammed the move as unfair and as being at odds with hopes of reviving peace talks.

“We reject the freezing of contacts announced by Israel as well as the criticism addressed at Mahmoud Abbas because he does not officially take office until Saturday,” Erekat said. “The best way to relaunch the peace process is not to freeze contacts but to resume them.”

The attack at the Karni border crossing in the Gaza Strip put Abbas under increased Israeli and US pressure to carry out a campaign pledge to end armed violence.

The bombing was led by three gunmen who moved into the Israeli side of the border crossing, at the entrance to northeastern Gaza Strip, through a hole in a concrete wall punctured by some 100 kilos (220 pounds) of explosives.

The army said all six Israeli dead were civilians working at the terminal. Five of their colleagues were also wounded, two of them seriously. Their assailants died in a gunbattle with security guards.

In other violence, a Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops in Khan Yunis, not far from the Neve Dekalim Jewish settlement, Palestinian security sources said.

Israeli Transport Minister Meir Sheetrit said Abbas, who has repeatedly called for an end to the armed struggle against Israel’s occupation, should take actions to halt the attacks. He said the moderate leader “cannot limit himself to condemning terrorism and must take decisive steps.”

For his part, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CNN “it’s going to be another tragedy if people who conduct these acts of terror ... are allowed to continue to destroy the peace process and deny the Palestinian people their opportunity to have a state of their own.”

Abbas, who is to be sworn in today, when he will ask Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei to form a new government, acknowledged that such attacks did not help advance peace with Israel. “This operation and Israel’s operations, which killed nine Palestinians this past week, do not contribute to the peace process,” he told reporters after Friday’s midday prayer.

— With input from agencies