Two Palestinian brothers were killed Sunday near the West Bank city of Ramallah when their car overturned on Sunday after it came under fire from Jewish settlers. Meanwhile, the Israeli army attempted to assassinate a member of the Islamic Jihad in Jenein.
Palestinian intelligence sources said that Ziad Mahmoud 32, and Eid Mahmoud, 38, were driving near Burka village east of Ramallah not far from the settlement of Ofra when the incident occurred, reported AFP.
"Settlers shot at the car and it overturned," an intelligence source said.
An Israeli police spokesman said they had no information of any shooting.
"At this stage we think it is a car accident and there are no indications of any shots being fired," the spokesman told AFP.
In Jenin, Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to assassinate Mohammed Bsharat Sunday in the West Bank village of Tamun near Jenin, Israel Radio reported, cited by Haaretz.
The Palestinians said an army helicopter could be seen hovering over the area where the attempted hit took place.
"It was clearly an Israeli assassination attempt," said an activist from Fateh movement who was in the car with the Jihad militant and another Fateh activist at the time.
"There was a huge explosion around 10 meters (yards) behind the car," the Fateh member told AFP.
The Fateh activist told AFP that it "was clearly caused either directly from the plane or remotely by agents."
Bsharat was detained by the Palestinian Authority for around two years before being released at the start of the now eight-month-old Palestinian Intifada.
Israel has killed a number of Palestinian militants by various methods, including bombs and helicopter gunships, since the Intifada began.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli army claimed that Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an Israeli army vehicle west of the West Bank city of Tulkarem, said reports.
There were no reports of injures.
ISRAELI MINISTER SAYS ARAFAT HAS ONE OR TWO DAYS TO PROVE CEASEFIRE
Israel is giving Palestinian President Yasser Arafat "one or two days" to test his commitment to the ceasefire he declared after Friday night's Tel Aviv bombing, a minister said Sunday.
"What is important is not Arafat's declaration but what happens on the ground, and in one or two days we will know," minister without portfolio Danny Naveh told Israeli public television, cited by AFP.
"I am skeptical of Arafat's true intentions and I have strong fears that this is only a new maneuver on his part," said Naveh, a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party.
If the "violence" persists, Israel should "put an end to its policy of restraint and treat the Palestinian Authority as a terrorist organization," he added.
Arafat ordered his security services on Saturday to implement a total and immediate ceasefire, promising to do "whatever is necessary" to back up his order.
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a line of teenagers at a beachside nightclub in Tel Aviv on Friday night, killing himself and 19 other people, sparking calls in Israel for Sharon to retaliate with force
Following Israeli threats of retaliation to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv Friday which left 19 Israelis dead, Arafat ordered his services in a written document to implement this ceasefire "in all sectors under the Palestinian Authority's control, even by force," a high-ranking Palestinian security official told AFP.
Palestinian security said in a statement that contacts were underway with "the national and Islamic factions to obtain an immediate implementation of this decision."
The statement was referring to the Palestinian movements, including Fateh faction, and to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
On Friday night, the suicide attack in Tel Aviv killed the bomber and 19 Israelis, in the deadliest anti-Israeli attack since 1996.
Following the bombing, an Israeli security cabinet meeting held Arafat responsible for the deterioration of the situation and said Israel will take "all necessary measures" to defend its citizens.
According to Israeli public radio, Israel's inner security cabinet also gave Arafat no more than 24 hours to prove he wants to work to calm the violent situation in the region, said Haaretz newspaper.
Arafat condemned Friday's as-yet-unclaimed attack, saying he was against any killing of civilians.
"We are ready to make the utmost effort to stop the bloodbath among our people and the Israeli people, and to do whatever is necessary for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire," Arafat told reporters.
According to Haaretz, some senior Israeli officials believe that Arafat's promise to work toward a cease-fire is "nothing more than a tactical step aimed at easing the mounting international pressure on the Palestinians."
ISRAEL OUTLINES MEASURES FOR ARAFAT'CEASEFIRE
Haaretz said that Israel outlines several measures that Arafat should take to "prove his stated intentions about the ceasefire."
Following are the conditions as reported by Haaretz:
1- "Members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who have been released from Palestinian prisons must be taken into custody again."
2- "Mortar shells and other weapons that are prohibited under the existing Israel-PA agreements must be collected."
3- "Activities by the PA and its organizations, especially the Tanzim, against Israel must be brought to an immediate halt."
ARAFAT INTENSIFIES CONTACTS
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Arafat spoke Saturday to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
The United States pressed for an end to the escalating situation in discussions with several world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arafat, a State Department official said in Washington, cited by AFP.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said President George W. Bush also had been "working the phones all day" from his retreat at Camp David, Maryland, speaking with all of his national security team.
"The president is deeply concerned and he calls on Arafat and the Palestinians to end the violence immediately," Johndroe said.
The Gaza Strip was eerily silent on Saturday, with Palestinians evacuating public buildings in fear that Israel would abandon its 10-day-old unilateral ceasefire and come at them with all guns blazing, witnesses said.
In Israel, seven people were lightly injured Saturday in clashes with police as hundreds of enraged Israelis sought revenge against Arabs after the bomb blast, throwing rocks at a mosque near the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Jaffa.
The Israeli army said Saturday it had imposed a blockade on all Palestinian towns and villages in the neighboring West Bank following the bombing and advised all Palestinians to leave Israel immediately.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, meanwhile, in an interview on Israeli public television, made an urgent appeal for US Middle East envoy William Burns to return to the region to help implement the recommendations of the recent report of a committee led by former US senator George Mitchell.
"I believe in order to make this operational, we need to have Mr. Burns, the American envoy, come back to the region immediately, in order to be able to put the mechanism and the timeline to implement the Mitchell recommendations," he said.
The newly-appointed Burns last week held an initial series of meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders with no concrete results.
His mission represented the most concrete US step toward restoring peace in the Middle East since Bush took over from former president Bill Clinton in January, said AFP - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
