Israeli troops killed an armed man, likely a Syrian soldier, who tried to infiltrate into Israel from the meeting point of the Syrian, Jordanian and Israeli borders in the southern occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday, Israeli media reports said.
Israeli troops injured another man in this incident and were reported to search for at least three other infiltrators. The captured infiltrator was wearing a Syrian army uniform, Israeli reports said.
According to Israel Radio, shortly after 1:30 P.M. (11:30GMT) Israeli soldiers in an observation point spotted two men crossing into Israel from Syria. An Israeli group of soldiers was sent out to intercept the infiltrators.
In the ensuing gunbattle one of the infiltrators was killed and a second was wounded and then captured.
A third armed man who remained on the Syrian side of the border opened fire on the Israeli troops before fleeing into Syria. The Israeli radio said the man arrived at a Syrian post and tried to call on Syrian troops to come out, however, they remained at their posts.
Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, the Israeli chief of staff, said that the identity of the gunmen was unclear.
West Bank and Gaza
Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip early Wednesday.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man outside a Jewish settlement, Palestinian witnesses said.
The witnesses and medical officials said the 30-year-old, from Khan Younis, central Gaza, was shot in the head as he watched soldiers at the garrison at the nearby Neve Dekalim settlement.
Elsewhere, Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Seida, near Tulkarem, destroyed late Tuesday night the home of Tanzim activist Ossama al Ashkar held under arrest in Israel, Palestinians sources said.
According to Palestinian reports, the soldiers told Ashkar's relatives to leave the house and then blew it up. In the morning, residents went to look at the rubble and troops in the house fired to disperse the crowd, killing 17-year-old Ahmed Ajaj, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.
Additionally, Israeli troops detained 21 Palestinians Tuesday night, most of the them in the Jilazun refugee camp north of Ramallah.
U.K., Israel row
On the dilomatic front, British Prime Minister Tony Blair pushed on with plans to host the January 14 talks with Palestinians on peace and reforms despite Israel confining the officials to Palestinian areas.
In a speech to a gathering of British ambassadors, Blair said commitment to an elusive Middle East peace was essential to winning support for a U.S.-led move to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of suspected weapons of mass destruction.
"The reason there is opposition over our stance on Iraq has less to do with any love of Saddam, but over a sense of double standards. The Middle East peace process remains essential to any understanding with the Muslim and Arab world," Blair conveyed.
Blair had invited the Palestinians for talks with a "Quartet" of Middle East mediators to discuss reforms demanded by Washington as a condition for statehood. The United States backed Britain's call for the meeting to go ahead. Spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday that the U.S. was "talking to the Israeli government" about the summit.
"We think the idea of a conference is a good one," said Boucher. "We have welcomed the British proposal. We would like to see their proposal go ahead."
But Israeli ambassador to London Zvi Shtauber told BBC radio there was no point in such talks while Arafat remained in power. "It is not constructive that Yasser Arafat should nominate the people who should deal with reforms in the government of Yasser Arafat," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
