ARABS-ISRAEL - Nov. 19 - Plan Could Ease Palestinian Hardships.

An official says Israel presented the Bush administration with a plan to alleviate hardships for Palestinians, including building factories on the West Bank that would employ at least 100,000 Palestinian workers. A pullback of Israeli troops from some Palestinian towns and an easing of roadblocks to Palestinian travel were also offered by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz in talks with White House officials last week, the Israeli official said. The factories, or industrial zones, would be at the border of Israel and the West Bank. There would be jobs for 100,000 to 120,000 Palestinian workers, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But Mofaz said the project and other conciliatory steps depended on a suspension of terror attacks against Israelis, the official said. Israel's controversial plan to construct a series of barricades to screen out terrorists was also discussed. Economic conditions on the West Bank and in Gaza have deteriorated in recent years. Searching for terrorists, Israeli soldiers have uprooted Palestinian homes and property and have kept Palestinian workers from their jobs in Israel. Roadblocks and other strict security measures have hampered Palestinians' daily lives. The Bush administration, while acknowledging Israel's right to self-defense, has asked Israel to ease up. The White House also wants Israel to revise the construction of the security barrier so it does not interfere with Palestinians' lives or block the eventual transfer of the territory to a Palestinian state. Pres.Bush has promised the Palestinians that he will support establishing a state by 2005, but the US -backed peace plan, intended to set up that state on land the Arabs lost in the 1967 Middle East war, is on hold. Pilgrim dies in border attack. A gunman opened fire on tourists entering Israel on Nov. 26, killing one Ecuadorean pilgrim and wounding 4, in a rare attack on the border with Jordan, The AP reported from Gaza City. The shootings came as an Egyptian mediator and the Palestinian PM tried to persuade Islamic militants to call a truce with Israel. The gunman, identified as a Jordanian truck driver, was shot and killed by Israeli guards. He hid among cattle trucks crossing the border before opening fire on the tourists, Israeli officials said. The five shot were among a group of 39 Ecuadorean pilgrims who were touring Middle East holy sites, said Yossi Zeldish, an official from Palmer Tours who organized their trip. UN endorses peace plan. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Nov. 19 endorsing a peace plan calling for a permanent two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, The AP reported from New York. The peace plan was drafted by the US, the UN, Russia and the EU and aims to end more than 2 years of violence and establish a Palestinian state by 2005.Russia initially circulated the resolution on Oct. 30, but a vote was delayed because the US sought to include strong language against terrorist groups that have attacked Israeli civilians. Washington had insisted on naming Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade. But Moscow said the resolution had been aimed solely at endorsing the peace plan, known as the road map, and diplomats said the US had agreed to a reference to "terrorism".