Israeli and Palestinian security officials are to meet Friday afternoon in the West Bank city of Ramallah under the auspices of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief George Tenet in yet another effort to renew security coordination. The meeting comes amid reports of continuing armed confrontation between the two sides and expected suicide attacks targeting Israelis.
Meanwhile, special US envoy to the Middle East, William Burns, is scheduled to arrive in the area to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
In the field, AFP reported that three mortar bombs were fired early Friday at Israeli military positions near the Gadid Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip, causing no casualties, quoting an army spokesman as saying.
The army had reported a number of similar incidents Thursday but in general the firing of mortars has diminished in line with other violence since the declaration of a ceasefire by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat last weekend, said the agency.
In another development, Haaretz reported that Israeli soldiers and police on Friday evacuated settlers from an outpost they had erected Thursday night near the Jat junction in the West Bank at the point where the Shomron regional council's security officer, Gilad Zar, was shot and killed last week.
Police arrested nine settlers, among them the Kedumim local council chair Daniella Weiss.
Meanwhile, the paper said that an Israeli soldier was arrested Thursday on suspicion of taking part in riots by Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron. The soldier, who serves in an elite unit of the Nachal brigade, is himself a resident of Hebron. Police officers believe that the soldier participated in the Hebron riots that took place following the killing of an Israeli baby before two and a half months.
According to the daily, Israel's defense establishment claims it has received serious warnings of plans by Palestinian organizations to commit more suicide attacks inside the Green Line, despite Arafat's declaration of a cease-fire last Saturday.
Over the last few days, Israeli security forces say they have foiled several Palestinian attempts “to commit terror attacks within the Green Line, while other planned attacks were aborted due to malfunctions or bungling.”
“In some cases, these attacks may have been set in motion before Arafat announced the cease-fire; they might also have been perpetrated by cells that do not consider themselves subordinate to Arafat,” said the army -- Albawaba.com
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