Palestinians set to announce truce

News, June 2003, Al-Jazeerah.info

Jordan Times, 6/27/03

RAMALLAH (Agencies) — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Thursday that resistance groups were set to announce a three-month truce in anti-Israeli attacks, despite fresh violence which claimed the lives of an Israeli and two would-be Palestinian suicide bombers. Also two Palestinian children, a brother and sister, were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip Thursday evening, Palestinian medics said.

Mohammad Al Masri, 10, and his four-year-old sister, Narmeen, were moderately wounded in the town of Beit Hanoun, but the circumstances of the incident were not initially clear, they said.

Palestinian security sources said there were no ongoing clashes in the area at the time, and the occupation army said it was investigating.

The truce announcement was expected ahead of the arrival this weekend of US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian officials said. There was no word on the venue, although possibilities raised included Cairo and Ramallah.

A truce could help end the 33-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, a necessary prelude to a US-backed peace plan aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by 2005. It was negotiated by Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian uprising leader jailed by Israel, and the heads of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups in Damascus.

While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not commented on the emerging deal directly, he said Thursday that Israel's military might has taught the Palestinians that violence doesn't pay.

"Today, the Palestinians have begun to understand that their interest compels them to stop terror," Sharon said during a graduating ceremony for air force pilots. He said the "long arm of the Israeli defense forces can hit terrorists anywhere, anytime."

Sharon's comments came as Israeli occupation troops intercepted four Palestinians carrying two backpacks stuffed with explosives, killing two in a clash and capturing the others.

Earlier, a Palestinian teenager shot dead an Israeli phone company technician near the West Bank before he was seriously wounded by a security guard and captured. A group linked to Fateh movement claimed responsibility.

Palestinians also fired several mortar shells and homemade rockets at a Jewish settlement in Gaza and an Israeli community bordering the strip.

In the West Bank, Israel tore down the family home of a Hamas activist who allegedly recruited suicide bombers.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a group linked to Fateh have carried out scores of bombing and shooting attacks against Israelis, killing hundreds of people on buses and public places.

On Thursday, the death toll stood at 2,416 on the Palestinian side and 806 on the Israeli side, according to an Associated Press toll. The uprising passed its 1,000-day mark this week.

Despite the latest violence, Palestinian leaders said the truce first reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday is on track.

"There will not be obstacles," said Jamal Zaqout, a negotiator from the tiny Palestinian political party Fida.

"All the Palestinians will abide by this issue," provided the international community presses Israel to stop its aggression and "give Palestinians real hope for ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian independent sovereign state," he said.

Negotiators said the truce would halt attacks by the three groups for three months and would apply to the West Bank and Gaza as well as Israel, a key Israeli demand. In exchange they demanded an end to Israel's assassinations of resistance activists and military strikes, and the release of prisoners; however, these were not made conditions for beginning the truce.

It was agreed on by Barghouthi on behalf of Fateh, and by Khaled Mishaal of Hamas and Ramadan Shallah of Islamic Jihad in Damascus.

A senior Hamas envoy was en route from Damascus to Cairo on Thursday to deliver the Barghouthi document to Egypt, according to a Palestinian source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian legislator Qaddoura Fares, who first announced agreement had been reached on Wednesday, said that if there was quiet during the three months, the truce could be extended.

After Arafat predicted an announcement "in a few hours," a senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a declaration would probably be made ahead of Rice's arrival Saturday evening.

Local Hamas leaders initially denied the reports that the senior leadership in Damascus had reached a deal, but on Thursday they said a truce appeared near. "There is a great deal of communication between all the parties which has intensified," said Mahmoud Zahhar, a Hamas leader in Gaza.

Israel has said it cannot promise to end all military operations as long as Palestinian security forces don't act against armed groups. It wants the groups disarmed as required by the "roadmap" peace plan.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out using force against the groups for fear of triggering a civil war.

Israel and the United States say a truce could enable the resistance groups to regroup for more anti-occupation attacks. Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert told Israel Radio that the Palestinians want to give the groups "a period to recover."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer echoed that on Thursday, telling reporters Bush sought "the dismantlement of terrorism."

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

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