[originaltext] Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon backed up his call for an

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon backed up his call for an immediate ceasefire following eight months of fighting with the Palestinians by ordering Israel’s army to cease all pre-emptive strikes against them.
    A senior aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat termed the truce offer "a lie" and said yesterday a Palestinian “status of self-defence” would continue as long as Israel occupied land in the west Bank and Gaza strip.
    US President George W.  Bush welcomed Sharon’ s statement White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Washington on Tuesday. Fleischer added the United States "would welcome a similar statement" from the Palestinians.
   Sharon called for a ceasefire at a news conference on Tuesday in which he rejected a total freeze of Jewish settlement activity, part of a plan by a US-led committee for ending Israeli-Palestinian violence.
   "I propose to our neighbours that we work together to reach an immediate ceasefire and hope the Palestinians will answer the call postively, "Sharon said at the news conference."
   "This is only a manoeuvre by Sharon’s government aimed at allevating international pressure on Israel, which was condemned for excessive use of force," countered the Arafat aide, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman.
    Israeli soldiers came under Palestinian fire in several parts of Gaza late on Tuesday and a roadside bomb exploded or its border with Egypt, which Israel patrols under interim peace deals, the army said. The soldiers returned fire. Israeli army spokesman Ron Kitrey said that, under the new guidelines, soldiers would "protect themselves and prevent terror attacks, "but would not initiate any fighting with Palestinians.
   He said they would require government approval to enter areas under Palestinian control or carry out reprisal attacks, a change from a policy where Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had given field commanders a free hand to launch incursions.
   At least 444 Palestinians, 87 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in late September after peace talks stalled.