RAMALLAH, West Bank ? Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement will conduct talks with the militant group Hamas in Cairo to seek an end to the Hamas policy of carrying out suicide bombings targeting Israel, Fatah officials said Friday.

A Fatah delegation plans to demand that Hamas leaders restrict their attacks to Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, instead of all Israelis, a senior Fatah official said on condition of anonymity.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas politburo who will lead its delegation to the weekend talks, told reporters in Damascus, Syria, this week that he hoped such a demand would not be made. He said the focus should be on ending disputes between the two factions and unifying Palestinians.

At first, Arafat had planned to send a high-level Fatah delegation that included his deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, but he changed his mind, officials said. They said they did not immediately know why he had, but they said it appeared he wasn’t ascribing much importance to the meeting.

Senior Fatah leaders expressed frustration at the decision because it prompted Hamas also to dispatch lower-level representatives for the talks. Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas’ politburo, originally was scheduled to lead its delegation.

The head Fatah delegate remained hopeful of progress.

“This is a very important meeting, and we are looking forward to making it successful,” said Ahmed Ghneim, who will lead the Fatah delegation. “I am optimistic and I think that we can reach an agreement with Hamas.”

Arafat’s Palestinian Authority called the session, which is to be conducted under Egypt’s sponsorship. The meeting originally had been scheduled for Tuesday.

Arafat has regularly condemned suicide attacks against civilians inside Israel, while Hamas argues the use of bomb-carrying attackers is necessary because Palestinians have no other effective means against the far better armed Israeli army.

However, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group with links to Fatah, has carried out several suicide bombings in Israel, and in the spring claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest attacks in the last two years of violence.

Tensions have run high between Hamas and Fatah following the Oct. 7 killing of the chief of the Palestinian riot police officer in Gaza, which was blamed on Hamas members. Hamas said then it had to do with a settling of scores between families and was not sanctioned by the group.

Separately, the Palestinians prepared to submit a written response to a U.S.-backed peace plan next week, officials said. Despite Palestinian reservations, Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said every effort would be made not to “sabotage” the latest peace initiative.

The plan calls for sweeping Palestinian reforms, an Israeli troop pullback, a freeze in Jewish settlement construction and a provisional Palestinian state by 2003, followed by full independence in 2005.

Arafat said Israel could not afford to reject the peace plan :quot; an apparent response to Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said the U.S. plan was not relevant as long as war with Iraq was pending.

David Satterfield, the U.S. envoy, is expected in the region next week to talk to both sides about the plan.