Israel asks for dismantling Palestinian groups, despite the declared truce
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 6/30/2003

The Islamic resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and the Islamic Jihad announced in a joint statement suspension of their military operations against Israel for three months. The leading figure in the Hamas movement Abdul Aziz al-Ranteisi confirmed this statement. He said that the truce will be valid as from Sunday ( yesterday).

News reports said that the two movements stressed in their statement that the truce is linked to Israel's suspension of all its operations against the Palestinians, including the halting of chasing resistance men and killing them, and lifting the siege imposed on the Palestinian areas and halting the operations of demolishing houses, leveling lands and freeing the prisoners.

Israel has rejected the truce. The spokesman for the Israeli prime minister Ranaan Ghesein said that Israel pins no importance on this truce because its sole negotiator is the Palestinian Authority. For his part, the director general of the Israeli foreign ministry Jadoun Maer said the Palestinians groups seeks through the truce to catch up its breathe and restore back its power to launch more attacks against the Israelis.

Maer said that ceasing fire by the side of the Palestinian groups is a time bomb because it actually preserves the infrastructure of what he called "terrorism." Israel demands the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the infrastructure of the armed organizations. A matter which threatens creating an inter-Palestinian conflict, but the Palestinian authority welcomed the truce.

The Palestinian Cabinet affairs minister Yasser Abed Rabbu said that this decision strengthens national unity and blocks Israeli maneuvers that aim at escaping the implementation of the Roadmap.

The Palestinian Authority had made pressures in which Arab sides took part to convince the Palestinian groups to announce a truce with the Israelis in order to give the peace plan known as the Roadmap a chance.

On the other hand, Palestinian and Israeli officials agreed during a field security meeting during Beit Hannoun barrier ( Erez crossing ) yesterday morning that the Israeli forces will start a withdrawal from Gaza as from today ( Monday) morning.

A Palestinian security official asked to be anonymous said the two sides agreed that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will cover each of Beit Hanoun town, and Beit Lahia to the north of Gaza and the isolated areas.

In light of the return back of security coordination between the Palestinians and the Israelis, Israeli officials said that the Palestinian authorities collaborated with Israel to foil Fedayeen attacks by the Palestinian resistance, in the first recognition of its kind since the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada.

In the course of her visit, US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice met yesterday with the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

The American administration, however, seeks to convince the Israeli government to halt its aggressions against the Palestinian areas, in order to offer the Palestinian authority the opportunity to assume security missions inside its areas and give a push forward to the Roadmap.

News reports said that Rice criticized the security belt in the West Bank., noting that the American official who is known for her support to Israel informed Sharon that the "belt" is a problem because it creates a certain reality and might be explained as imposing borders. But Sharon rejected the reservations shown by Rice. He said he is not ready to backtrack any decision that might protect the Israelis even if it leads to differences with Washington, according to an anonymous source.

At the battlefield, two Palestinians were wounded during fire exchange between the Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance in Qalqilya to the north of the West Bank. A Palestinian security source said that Muhammad Eweis( 22 year old), one of the wounded Palestinian is in a critical health condition.

On the other hand, an Israeli military spokesman announced the bombardment of Jewish settlements in Gaza by mortar. No casualties were reported.

Previous Stories:
  Israel kills boy and four Palestinians in an assassination attempt   (6/28/2003)
  PNA: Bush's call to dismantle hamas is call for palestinian civil war   (6/28/2003)
  One Israeli, two Palestinians killed in attack; Occupation forces incur in Deir al-Balah   (6/27/2003)
  People, Democratic fronts for the liberation of Palestine reject truce; Hamas, Islamic Jihad study it   (6/20/2003)

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