Five Israeli soldiers sustained Tuesday mild to moderate injuries in the Palestinian territories. A soldier was moderately injured in Tulkarem when he tried to stop a Palestinian vehicle that skirted past an Israeli road-block. Soldiers fired at the tires of the car and a bullet apparently ricocheted and struck one of the soldiers in the leg, Haaretz reported.
Near Rafah on the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli sources, a malfunction in an Israeli tank caused an explosion and injured four soldiers - none of them seriously, the report added.
In Gaza, a Palestinian sentenced to death for collaborating with Israeli security was shot and killed by Palestinian police while trying to escape, the Palestinian prosecutor said. Hussam Hissi, 21, was convicted of helping Israel kill five Palestinian activists.
On the political level, Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Tuesday to a series of meetings after holding their first high-level talks in months. Despite low expectations, the resumption of dialogue provided a rare glimmer of hope that the two sides may be able to move forward.
Both sides said two days of meetings between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian officials, including new Interior Minister Abdel-Razak al-Yehiyeh, were not peace negotiations and they brought no major breakthroughs. Peres' office said: "The meeting was good. Both sides recognized the importance of continuing to talk."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called for a resumption of full peace talks after meeting Peres in Jerusalem. "We hope that the ultimate end result is not just the mere fact that we are meeting but that we can do something...that we can revive the peace process," he said, according to Reuters. "it is too soon to speak about any movement as the result of one or two meetings with the Israelis," he added.
Political sources said Israel had agreed to set up a committee to discuss the matters raised during the talks and that it would study the possibility of releasing Palestinian funds held in Israeli state coffers since the uprising started.
Later in the day, the White House said U.S. President George W. Bush had spoken by telephone to Sharon and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and urged them to pursue peace.
"The president discussed with each of them the importance of pursuing the path to peace in the Middle East. He discussed with each of them the responsibilities of the various parties that do their part to help bring about prospects for peace in the Middle East. And it was a very positive conversation with each of them," spokesman Ari Fleischer said. (albawaba.com)
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