Jerusalem's bombardment eliminates Arafat- Peres understanding, three Palestinians killed
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 11/3/2000

Two Israelis were killed and other ten wounded in a booby trapped car explosion in Mahani Ehuda market in Western Jerusalem. The Israeli police and ambulance hurried to the site of the explosion and Israel's deputy defense minister Afriem Seneh held the palestinian Authority responsible for the explosion.

However, this operation which was carried out in Jerusalem on Thursday addressed another blow to the ailing peace settlement since the eruption of the uprising more than two months ago.

The al-Jihad al-Islami movement in Palestine claimed responsibility for the explosion despite all the tightened security measures taken by the Israeli occupation forces taken by Israel since the beginning of the uprising.

It was decided that Barak and Arafat were due to launch a joint statement on Thursday calling for calm in light of what was reached by Peres and Arafat in Gaza, however this step was repeatedly postponed and it seems that the Jerusalem explosion has obstructed it.

Arafat expressed regret for the attack and the Israeli prime minister issued a statement at late Thursday night in which he regretted that Arafat's call for calming down conditions came through a statement through the Palestinian leadership and did not come from him directly.

On Thursday, the uprising events receded as members of the Palestinian police started to prevent the demonstrators from being in direct contact with the Israeli forces in the Gaza strip and the West bank.

However, this did not prevent the continuity of the uprising three Palestinians were killed and several Palestinians were wounded by Israelis. Two Israelis were wounded in bullets attack against their car.

Israel has tried to invest Jerusalem's explosion for serving its stances. This was expressed in the statements made by the Israeli foreign minister Shloumo Bin Ami who held intensive talks in Washington and New York or the other stances which held the Palestinian aide responsibility for the deterioration of conditions.

In this framework, Barak called on the Palestinian government to imprison again the activists of " Hamas" and the " Islamic Jihad " who were released in October to prisons.

A statement by the Israeli premier issued following a meeting for the Israeli mini cabinet on Thursday to study the implications of the deteriorated conditions " the prime minister calls on the Palestinian Authority to return back to prison all detainees it released during the past weeks and to fight terrorism once again."

The Israeli radio said later that Barak gave Arafat a period of 24 hours to implement the cease - fire.

Meantime, the Israeli President Moshe Katsav has accused Arafat of " being partially responsible" for the attack. Katsav said upon heading to the hospital to visit the wounded of the explosion that " Arafat encourages terrorism and violence and therefore he partially bears the responsibility for this attack."

Previous Stories:
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