The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah movement, announced Saturday it was ending its truce on anti-Israeli attacks after the arrest of 20 of its activists by Palestinian security forces.
"We have ordered the resumption everywhere of our attacks and in particular suicide operations," the group said in a statement.
Earlier Saturday it was reported that Palestinian security personnel detained some 20 wanted activists who had been holed up in the West Bank headquarters compound of Yasser Arafat in an apparent deal with Israel and the United States.
The move came as Washington announced it was sending Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs William Burns to the region.
"About 20 wanted Palestinians, most of whom live in the Ramallah area, were arrested this morning inside the muqata," a senior Palestinian official told AFP.
He said the men would be transferred to a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho, and that the arrangement had been made with the knowledge of the United States and Israel.
At least 14 of those arrested were members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades a spokesman for the group told AFP.
The spokesman said he had been told by a senior Palestinian official that the arrests were made in accordance with an agreement with the United States. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades condemned the arrests, accusing those who carried them out, without naming them, of "collaborating" with Israel.
Meanwhile, Kamal Ghanem, a Ramallah chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said the activists had refused Arafat's request to move to the West Bank town of Jericho and were being confined to a single room in PA lwader's compound.
Ghanem said Arafat had asked the men to move because "the world has changed" and he was under intense pressure due to their presence. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
