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Fatah accuses Israel of damaging ceasefire

Palestinian officials have accused Israel of trying to damage the
ceasefire and US backed peace efforts.

The criticism follows the aftermath of a raid on Friday in the West
Bank town of Nablus, which killed four Palestinians and an Israeli
soldier.

In a statement, leading Palestinian faction Fatah says Israel should
not play with fire.

Leader Yasser Arafat told reporters that Israel did not only violate
the temporary truce but tried to destroy the peace process in general.

The comments come as 5,000 people in Nablus attended the funeral of
four Palestinians killed during an Israeli raid on a suspected
explosives workshop.

Palestinian officials said the militant group Hamas, which lost two
activists in Nablus, confirmed they would not respond to the Israeli
operation - the most serious since Palestinian militants declared a
ceasefire six weeks ago.

However Israeli army radio reports that four Hamas militants have been
arrested, who according to the army were planning to carry out attacks
in retribution for the deaths of the Hamas activists on Friday.
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