Israeli forces continue storming into the Palestinian territories

The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has expressed his rejection to the Arab peace initiative which was adopted during the recent Beirut's summit conference.. This was expressed during Sharon's two meetings with the US President George Bush on Wednesday and his meeting on Thursday with the British prime minister Tony Blair.

Sharon stressed to Blair the complete American support he received on what he claimed Israel's right to maintain self defense.

Meantime, the Palestinian official in charge of the local rule in the Palestinian authority Saeb Oreikat rejected the idea proposed by the US secretary of state Colin Powell on founding a provisional Palestinian state and stressed the need that Powell has to concentrate on the actual problem which is ending the Israeli occupation, noting that the Palestinians can no longer accept more provisional solutions.

Meanwhile, while the Israeli forces continue to maintain strong siege on the city of Ramullah since several days, they also continued on Thursday breaking in operations in several areas in the West Bank and Gaza and arrested more than 45 Palestinians after destroying the furniture of their houses.

The clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli invading forces resulted in wounding several Palestinians at a time when an Israeli military spokesman admitted that one Israeli army officer and one soldier were wounded.