A Palestinian was killed by Israeli troops near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip Friday and tens others were inured in clashes with Israeli troops, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government agreed to build another Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories, said reports.
Only hours after Sharon returned from the United States, where he repeated that there would be no peace talks as long as violence continues, Osama Hassan Selim, a 25-year-old Palestinian security officer, was shot dead by the Israeli army in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip near the Kfar Darom settlement..
Another 36 Palestinians were wounded as demonstrators and Israeli troops clashed around the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In the evening, a convoy carrying Amnesty International secretary general, Pierre Sane, was targeted by an Israeli army stun grenade as it toured the southern Gaza Strip, an official from the human rights organization told AFP.
Kamal Samari, who was travelling with Sane, said the attack, which did not injure anyone, "looked like it was deliberate."
"If they fire grenades when we're here, it's not hard to imagine what they do when we're not here," Samari told AFP.
Upon his return from the United States on Thursday, Sharon said he had won US backing for his refusal to negotiate with the Palestinians under fire.
"There will be no negotiations under pressure and violence," Sharon said at the end of his trip.
Meanwhile, the Israeli housing ministry, led by right-wing Israel B'Aliya party leader, Nathan Sharansky, said it had proposed construction of yet another Jewish settlement, southwest of Jerusalem, said Haaretz newspaper.
Although it said the move will require approvals from other agencies and could take years to carry out, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's top adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina denounced the plans for 6,00O new Jewish homes in the West Bank, saying that "peace and settlement-building do not go together."
Some 200,000 Jewish settlers already live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in 1967, and another 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which the Jewish state annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
The armed wing of the Islamic militant movement Hamas on Friday claimed three separate mortar attacks on the Gaza Strip settlements in the past week, in its first admission it possesses such weapons.
Sharon said that "those who take part in terror and their supporters will be dealt with as one must deal with terrorists, but with an effort to avoid an escalation."
Sharon had described Arafat Wednesday as the main obstacle to peace, accusing him of having "reverted to terrorism."
Abu Rudeina rejected these remarks Friday, saying they were a "threatening message" to next week's Arab summit in Jordan, and urged Sharon to "choose between a policy of peace and a policy of threats," according to AFP.
Hoping to assuage tension with Egypt, Sharon denied he discussed the subject of Egypt while in Washington, according to Haaretz.
The statement came in response to an interview given by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the Egyptian paper Alahram.
In the interview, Mubarak said if it were true that Sharon requested that US President George W. Bush cancel the American army’s assistance to Egypt, it would be a "stance of animosity."
In the past few days, Sharon has expressed concern over Egypt's continued armament and apparently asked the US to slow down the pace of the Egyptian's weapons build-up, said the paper.
Mubarak added, however, that he did not want to take a stance yet on the issue.
A statement by Sharon’s office said that the prime minister "sees Egypt as the leading Arab state, and [one which] plays an important role in the peace process and the continued stability of the region."
The statement added that "it must be remembered that there has been peace between Israel and Egypt (albeit a cold one) for many years."
For his part, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa told the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot he believed that "the entire Arab world will never accept Sharon's logic."
"The Palestinians will not agree to submit to Sharon's will, and nobody from our side will advise them to do it," he added.
Abu Rudeina also said Friday that Arafat had spoken with US Secretary of State Colin Powell overnight to discuss the situation in the territories, said AFP.
The Palestinians have criticized Washington for not inviting Arafat since Bush took office in January, and Sharon has said he warned US officials that an Arafat visit would be "proof that terrorism pays," according to the Israeli paper.
Speaking Thursday to a small number of State Department correspondents, Powell said Bush "has a very, very full schedule" of foreign leaders visiting.
"In due course, he hopes to see all of the leading political figures of the region, but I don't have anything to say with respect to a visit by Mr. Arafat," Powell said.
In separate remarks to the National Newspaper Association, Powell said peace negotiations could not resume between the two sides until an end to the violence.
"Let's get security, cooperation and coordination going again between the two sides, and then when we have a more stable situation, we can take action to begin discussions toward peace once more," Powell was quoted as saying – Albawaba.com
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