Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers disagreed Sunday over the
possibility of a permanent cease-fire, and shortly afterward four
Israelis were shot and wounded near Jerusalem.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict
Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli vehicles between Jerusalem
and the West Bank town of Bethlehem, wounding four people, police and
rescue services said. Jewish settlers said the wounded were a mother
and three children. The mother and her 9-year-old daughter were
seriously hurt, hospital officials said, while two other children were
wounded slightly.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group affiliated with
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news -
web sites) movement, claimed responsibility for the shooting in a
phone call to The Associated Press.
Earlier this month, Israel turned Bethlehem back over to Palestinian
security forces under terms of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan,
which calls on Israel to pull its forces out of Palestinian towns
reoccupied during nearly three years of violence.
Israel has urged the Palestinians to dismantle groups that have
carried out terror attacks killing hundreds of Israelis — as
stipulated in the peace plan — but the Palestinian Authority (news -
web sites) has argued that full confrontation with militants would
trigger civil war.
Since the main Palestinian militant groups declared a temporary
cease-fire on June 29, violence has dropped dramatically. Palestinian
Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said he proposed ways to make the truce
permanent in talks with his Israeli counterpart, Silvan Shalom.
Shaath said he told Shalom that further Israeli withdrawals from West
Bank towns and other steps to allow Palestinians freedom of movement
could make it possible for the Palestinian government to negotiate a
permanent cease-fire with the militants.
"Their reaction was that they were insistent that this is not enough,
and they were insistent on the Palestinians dismantling the militant
infrastructure," Shaath told The Associated Press.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
confirmed that Shaath and Shalom discussed a permanent cease-fire,
though the official said the Palestinians made an outright offer of a
permanent truce. He said Shalom rejected the idea.
The Israeli official said Shalom told Shaath that to accept such a
proposal would give armed "extremists" the ability to resume attacks,
thereby determining the course of peace talks and effectively allowing
the militants veto power.
In Ramallah, tensions erupted Saturday when Arafat urged a group of
militants to leave his compound and comply with an Israeli demand that
they transfer to Palestinian custody in Jericho, said the militants'
leader, Kamal Ghanam.
The militants refused and were confined by guards within the
headquarters. A deal was struck on Sunday, however, and the militants
were released without having to go to Jericho.
The details of the agreement were unclear. Abdel Fattah Hamayel, a
Palestinian minister responsible for negotiating with the militants,
said the group "will not be sent to Jericho, they will not be
arrested."
"What is still being negotiated is how their security can be assured,"
he said.
A senior Israeli official said his government's demand remained the
same — the militants should be sent to Jericho.
"They have to be brought to justice," the official said on condition
of anonymity. "The wanted people are part of the security plan that
has to be implemented."
The standoff over the militants illustrates the tensions that are
slowing progress on the road map, which calls for an end to violence
and establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Israel pulled troops out of parts of Gaza and from the West Bank town
of Bethlehem shortly after the militants declared their truce.
But further progress has been stalled amid a host of disagreements,
including Israel's demand for a crackdown on the militants and
Palestinian demands for a mass prisoner release by Israel and for an
end to Israel's construction of a security barrier encroaching on West
Bank land.
On Sunday, Palestinian security chief Mohammad Dahlan met with Brig.
Gen. Amos Gilad, head of the security and political team in the
Israeli Defense Ministry, to discuss an Israeli offer to withdraw from
Jericho and Qalqiliya, two other towns occupied during the fighting.
Israel first proposed this last week, but the Palestinians insisted on
a pullout from Ramallah instead.
A statement by Dahlan's office accused the Israeli side of giving "no
genuine commitment" to taking down roadblocks and other barriers
around the two towns.
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Israel approves release of more than 400 prisoners
Trying to ease the dispute over prisoners, an Israeli ministerial
committee on Sunday approved the release of more than 400 prisoners
among the 7,700 Palestinian prisoners Israel holds, including some
members of militant groups, officials said.
"The director general of the Justice ministry will bring a list of 447
prisoners to the committee. If all of them will be released, I can't
say now," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Israel TV.
The list includes 189 security prisoners, 161 administrative detainees
and 97 criminal offenders, Lapid said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas plans to meet with faction
leaders in Gaza on Monday, Palestinian officials said. He will report
on his recent talks in Washington and discuss the future of the
cease-fire, as well as concerns over Palestinian prisoners and charges
of Israeli truce violations, they said.
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