Four Israelis were wounded, one seriously, in a shooting attack on their car Sunday evening at a roadblock located south of Jerusalem. The Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed the attack.
Israeli security sources said the gunman was from the village of Batir in the Bethlehem area and had opened fire on passing cars and then escaped back to the village.
Elsewhere, Israeli troops killed early Monday a Palestinian fighter near the West Bank city of Tulkarem. According to media reports, the Palestinian tried to place a bomb when the soldiers spotted him and kiiled him.
Earlier, Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom rejected an offer made by his Palestinian counterpart, Nabil Sha'ath, for a "absolute and permanent" cease-fire, which the Palestinians believe, would provide a solution to "terrorism."
Instead, Shalom called on the Palestinians to first dismantle "the terrorist infrastructure," saying this was a condition for advancing to the next stage of the internationally-brokered road map to Middle East peace.
The Palestinian Authority representatives at Sunday's meeting in Jerusalem - Sha'ath and his deputy, the director-general of the Palestinian foreign ministry - said that they would reach an understanding with the armed groups on a permanent cease-fire. They said that as long as a cease-fire was in effect, support among Palestinians would grow for one government and one security force.
According to the two Palestinians, Hamas has completely upheld the truce, and if the Palestinian public is positively affected by the current situation, the cease-fire will become a fact, and "will continue not for three months, but for three years or even 27 years," Haaretz reported. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
