A Palestinian was killed and 11 others were wounded Wednesday by Israeli troops who opened fire on a southern Gaza Strip refugee camp, as Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres ended high-level truce talks in the nearby airport outside Rafah.
Israel occupation forces opened fire on the camp even as Arafat and Peres were meeting a few kilometers (miles) away, AFP said.
The death of Mahmoud Jalal Keshta brings to 822 the number of people killed in the Palestinian uprising which broke out almost a year ago, according to AFP’s estimates.
The latest uprising against Israel's 34-year military occupation of Palestinian land has seen Palestinians suffer the overwhelming majority of deaths - including, according to Amnesty International, around 100 children.
International human rights groups have identified a consistent pattern of Israeli occupation soldiers shooting demonstrators dead under circumstances that posed no immediate danger.
PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS AGREE TO RESUME SECURITY COOPERATION
The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported late on Wednesday that Peres and Arafat had agreed that Israeli and Palestinian security forces would resume full cooperation.
The two leaders did not speak as expected at a concluding press conference.
Instead, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereekat read a joint statement drawn up by Peres and Arafat.
The transcribed text of the statement is as follows, according to the paper:
"President Yasser Arafat and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met on September 22nd, 2001, and they reiterated their full commitment to the implementation of Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet understandings. Since then, both sides agreed to establish a joint committee of senior representatives in order to deal with any issue that may arise over the implementation of the Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet understandings.
"The two sides will resume full security cooperation and will exert maximum efforts to reach a ceasefire in accordance with the party's commitments. They will carry out all their security obligations emanating from previous agreements. And the government of Israel will begin to lift [its] closures and redeploy its forces. The two sides agreed that President Arafat and Foreign Minister Peres will have a second meeting within a week or so." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
