Sharon speaks of a truce, three Palestinians killed in Gaza

The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon yesterday expressed readiness to stop attacking the Palestinians in a step almost similar to an undeclared truce coincides with talks about reviving the settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

He told journalists following a session for the Israeli Knesset yesterday that the question of the truce is a matter of an agreement between the Palestinians "and we have nothing to do with that." He added "should peace prevails on the Palestinian side, we will keep calm from our side." Despite talking about calm, the Israeli occupation forces killed three Palestinian civilians near the border strip with Egypt.

The three bodies for the Palestinians Eyad Awad ( 20 year old), Walid al-Turabin (24 year old) and Rashad Abi Sneima ( 23 year old) all from al-Salam quarters in Rafah camp were taken to al-Najjar hospital in Rafah.

Israeli sources said that the Israeli army monitored the moves of four Palestinians approaching the borders near Rafah and that one tank shelling was fired and this resulted in killing three of them while the fate of the fourth is still unknown.