Albawaba.com-Amman
The PFLP Wednesday warned in a statement to Albawaba.com the PA that the arrest of its secretary general Ahmed Saadat “will put the PA in an all-out political confrontation with all the Palestinian factions.” Earlier the PA announced Tuesday the detention of the PFLP secretary general, Ahmed Saadat, who succeeded the former front secretary general Abu Ali Mustafa who was assassinated by Israel in Ramallah on August 27, 2001.
The PFLP politburo member and spokesman, Maher al Taher, described the arrest of Saadat as “a serious development which will have negative and serious impacts on the Palestinian internal circumstances.” “The PFLP leadership will hold a meeting to assess the situation and study the steps to be taken in response to the arrest of Saadat,” Taher told Albawaba.com adding that the Islamic and national Palestinian factions will hold another meeting to study the dimensions of the arrest, its dangers and how to respond back. “We consider the arrest as an affair that concerns all Palestinian people and factions and not only the PFLP,” said Taher.
Meanwhile, the PFLP spokesman denied that he had any information about the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Saadat or the place of his detention. Nevertheless, he said that the PA “cannot accuse him of any charges because he is a Palestinian freedom fighter defending his people,” adding that the whole affair is simply a succumb to the Israeli pressures.
Arab Israeli Killed Near Jenin
The body of an Arab Israeli was found in a car Wednesday in the West Bank bringing to four the number of Israelis killed during the past 48 hours, said a source close to settlers in the area.
The source stated that the car was found near the Palestinian town of Jenin, North of the West Bank. An Israeli police source said that the victim was an Arab Israeli from East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israeli press reports said that police and army forces chased one of the attackers indicating that the assailants fled to Anza village near Jenin. “The attackers thought the car driver was a Jew and so they killed him,” reports said citing Israeli security sources as saying.
On Tuesday, an Israeli American settler and an Israeli woman were killed by Palestinians in two separate attacks in the West Bank.
In the first attack, a 72-year-old settler from the Jewish settlement of Maali Adomim near Jerusalem was found shot dead in Beit Sahour near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The al Aqsa Battalions claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement obtained by the Lebanese Hisbollah al Manar Satellite channel.
The statement claimed that the victim was an Israeli intelligence officer but another statement issued by the battalions Wednesday denied that.
Later on Tuesday, a Palestinian uprising leader said that the assailants were Arab agents for Israel who killed the settler in an attempt to step up violence.
In the second operation a 45-year old Israeli woman was shot and killed and her daughter wounded by Palestinian gunmen at the entrance of a Jewish settlement near Ramallah.
On Monday, an Israeli soldier was killed and two others wounded in an attack adopted by the al Aqsa Martyrs Battalions. They announced that their action has come in retaliation for the assassination by Israel of their local leader in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Raed al Karmi.
Israeli Cabinet
The Israeli security cabinet is to convene Wednesday night at midnight to discuss Israel's response to the latest shooting attacks in the West Bank in which two settlers and one soldier were killed.
According to Haaretz, the meeting has apparently been called to settle a difference of opinion on the Israeli military retaliation between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who reportedly feels that Israel should moderate its response and take steps to calm the situation.
However, the Prime Minister's Office denied reports Wednesday of a disagreement between Sharon and his defense minister. "This is not true. There is no difference of opinion," said a statement published by the bureau. (Albawaba.com)
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