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Confrontation between Israeli, Palestinian troops
Copyright ) 1998 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1998 The Associated Press
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip (January 15, 1998 10:19 a.m. EST
http://www.nando.net) -- Israeli and Palestinian troops trained assault
rifles on each other Thursday during a protest, a sign of growing
tension ahead of a Washington summit on Mideast peacemaking.
The confrontation started when about 400 Palestinian demonstrators
blocked a main thoroughfare near the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis,
leaving several Israeli cars stuck on the road.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers, apparently fearing the vehicles would become
an easy target for attack, took up positions with their rifles trained
on the demonstrators. Palestinian policemen then arrived, aiming their
rifles at the Israeli troops.
The two sides lowered their weapons after about 20 minutes, but remained
at the scene until the demonstrators dispersed.
In another confrontation about a mile away, Israeli troops shot at a
Palestinian taxi, wounding a passenger in the leg when he opened the
door. It was not immediately clear why the soldiers opened fire.
Israeli-Palestinian tension has been rising in recent days, days before
separate meetings that President Clinton has scheduled with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Next week's talks are seen as critical for the future of Mideast
peacemaking; if they fail, violence could result.
Arafat has hinted at new clashes, saying that all Palestinian options
remained open. Asked Thursday to explain further, Arafat said: "I am
worried about the whole region."
Israeli security officials believe the Palestinians have hoarded weapons
and conducted assault training in preparation for a possible violent
conflict with Israel, the Maariv daily reported Thursday. The Israeli
army has carried out its own exercises under the code name "Indian
Summer," the report said.
The Israeli Cabinet hardened its positions on peace talks this week. The
ministers said Israel would hand over West Bank land only if the
Palestinians meet a 12-page list of demands, most dealing with security.
They also decided that in a final peace accord, Israel must retain vast
areas of the West Bank -- land the Palestinians want as part of a future
state.
The Cabinet started Thursday to tackle the core issue of the
Clinton-Netanyahu meeting -- the scope of an Israeli troop pullback in
the West Bank.
The Cabinet may set general parameters, but probably will not decide on
the specific size of a withdrawal, said David Bar-Illan, the prime
minister's senior adviser. A final decision was not expected until
Sunday.
Clinton expects Netanyahu to present plans for a significant and speedy
troop withdrawal when the two leaders meet Tuesday.
Thursday also marked the anniversary of the U.S.-brokered Hebron accord
in which Netanyahu pledged to carry out three pullbacks in the West Bank
by mid-1998. Israel's first offer in March to hand over 2 percent of the
land was rejected by the Palestinians as insufficient. The second
pullback is two months overdue.
Netanyahu has said he was no longer bound by the withdrawal timetable
because the Palestinians have not fulfilled their promise to crack down
on militants. Netanyahu has said he was ready to carry out one pullback,
not three, before beginning talks on a permanent peace agreement.
Maariv reported that Netanyahu planned to propose a single pullback from
9 percent to 12 percent of the West Bank when he meets with Clinton. If
the Palestinians insist on an additional withdrawal, each pullback would
be smaller in size, Maariv said.
Arafat has termed the Israeli positions a violation of the peace
accords. Still, it was not clear whether Israel would stick to the 12
pages of conditions, and a senior U.S. diplomat said they should be
considered an opening position only.
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
---
Thursday January 15 9:13 AM EST
Arafat says Israel Impeding Washington Talks
By Wafa Amr
HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on
Thursday accused Israel of blocking progress at peace talks in
Washington next week on a long-overdue handover of West Bank land.
Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are to separately
meet U.S. President Bill Clinton to try to overcome 10 months of
stalemate in peacemaking.
"They're (Israel) putting all the obstacles before going to Washington
while we are looking to achieve something concrete from these meetings
in Washington," Arafat told reporters in English at a joint news
conference with British Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett.
"It (the Washington meeting) is a turning point not only for the
Palestinians and Israelis but for the whole region as well," said the
Palestinian leader who wants the United States to pressure Israel to
hand over more land.
Palestinians are angry at an Israeli cabinet decision this week that
identified large segments of West Bank land as "vital national
interests," suggesting they could not be ceded to Palestinians.
The United States criticised the cabinet decision. On Tuesday, the
cabinet decided not to make any withdrawal until Arafat's PLO meets a
12-page Israeli list of demands on carrying out security and other
commitments agreed on in a U.S.-brokered document a year ago.
Fatchett, whose country is currently head of the European Union's
rotating presidency, said the bloc was "looking for a substantial and
meaningful redeployment by the Israeli government."
Palestinians and other Arabs have looked to the EU to offset what they
regard as U.S. bias towards Israel, but the European group lacks
Washington's political clout in the Middle East.
Arafat met the British junior minister in the West Bank town of Hebron
which under a 1997 interim peace accord divided the city into Israeli-
and Palestinian-ruled sectors.
Hebron is holy to Moslems and Jews as the burial place of the biblical
Abraham. Some 400 Jewish settlers live in heavily armed enclaves in the
heart of the city of more than 100,000 Palestinians.
A minor scuffle broke out between seven settler leaders and Palestinian
police and civilians in Hebron on Thursday when the settlers tried to
enter a Palestinian-ruled area to pray at a Jewish shrine without first
coordinating with police.
Witnesses said the settlers then staged a demonstration to mark the
first anniversary of the Israeli troop pullback from 80 percent of the
volatile town.
In Palestinian-ruled Gaza, security forces were investigating the
shooting of a Palestinian in his leg, apparently by an Israeli soldier,
near where hundreds of Palestinians protested at Israeli expansion of
Jewish settlements and Wednesday's cabinet decision, witnesses said.
Khalid al-Khatib, secretary of the Islamic National Committee to Defend
Land, told Reuters: "The aim is to declare our total rejection to the
Israeli policy of settlements and land confiscations, especially after
the Israeli government's decision yesterday to keep the largest lands of
the West Bank in their hands."
Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police tried to defuse the tensions on
a Gaza road near Kfar Darom Jewish settlement.
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