Israel kills four in raid, some settlements to go ( 2003-12-02 00:31) (Agencies)
Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a boy of six, in a major
West Bank raid on Monday that came in sharp counterpoint to the planned launch
in Geneva of a symbolic Middle East peace accord.
Israeli
soldiers blow-up a Palestinian house in the West Bank city of Ramallah,
December 1, 2003. Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a
six-year-old boy, in a major West Bank raid on Monday that came in sharp
counterpoint to the planned launch in Geneva of a symbolic Middle East
peace accord. [Reuters]
The push into
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's base city Ramallah also coincided with a
U.S. diplomatic mission that won an Israeli pledge to start removing Jewish
settler outposts as required by an internationally-backed "road map" peace plan.
An Israeli army spokesman said special forces killed three Islamic militants
who had opened fire at them. One of the militants perished in a five-story block
demolished on top of him after he refused to come out and surrender, witnesses
said.
Palestinian medics said the boy died after being shot in the head by Israeli
troops around midday in a Ramallah refugee camp. Military sources said soldiers
had clashed with stone-throwers near the site and the shooting was under
investigation.
In house-by-house searches, soldiers arrested 30 members of the Islamist
group Hamas wanted in connection with 10 bombings that had killed 68 people in
Israel, security sources said.
Troops also blew up three buildings used to make or hide explosives before
withdrawing, an army spokesman said.
The violence flared just before the roll-out in Switzerland of the
alternative peace pact hatched by Israeli left-wing opposition figures and
Palestinian politicians, raising pressure on those in power to stop fighting and
start talking in earnest.
In Cairo, the start of Egyptian-brokered talks with militant leaders on
arranging a cease-fire were put off from Tuesday until later in the week for
security and technical reasons.
Militants served notice that a truce proclamation was unlikely unless Israel
did the same. New moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie wants to
present a militant commitment to a truce to Israel for its agreement.
Israel said the Ramallah incursion aimed to forestall further attacks on
Israelis, again accusing Arafat's Palestinian Authority of failing to rein
in militants.
Palestinian officials said such raids risked stalling the new flurry of
peacemaking for they only provoked militants to hit back. Violence has
diminished since October but Israel still cites frequent intelligence alerts of
planned militant strikes.
ENVOY'S VISIT YIELDS ISRAELI PLEDGE ON
OUTPOSTS
U.S. envoy William Burns was in the region trying to clear hurdles to
resuming the "road map" process, urging the two sides to go ahead with a meeting
between Qurie and Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon held up by jockeying over
preconditions.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Burns in a meeting that six to 10
small West Bank settlement outposts would be dismantled, a government source
told Reuters.
The road map, which charts steps to a Palestinian state by 2005, stipulates
that Israel remove more than 100 outposts -- caravan clusters on hilltops -- and
stop expanding 145 established, suburban-style settlements in occupied
territory.
"We share the hope that there is a moment before us when we can begin to
renew movement on the basis of the road map," Burns told reporters. "It is not
going to be easy."
U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said military action like Israel's
thrust into Ramallah was unhelpful. "What both parties should do now is their
utmost to create the confidence necessary to bring them back to the table," he
said.
In Geneva, those who drafted the symbolic treaty hoping to bridge the
intransigence of incumbents on both sides assembled along with foreign
dignitaries for a glitzy dedication ceremony.
The plan has been hailed by dozens of senior political figures worldwide but
called subversive by Sharon. Arafat and Qurie have approved the initiative but
not endorsed the details.
The "Geneva Accord" also prescribes a Palestinian state but goes well beyond
the road map in mandating the evacuation of most settlements and giving Israel
the right to decide how many Palestinian refugees from past wars to take back.
Militants have blasted the deal for waiving Palestinians' claim to a "right
of return" to homes in what is now Israel.
A poll released on Monday showed more Israelis were warming to the accord,
with 31 percent in favor and 37 percent against compared with 25 percent and 54
percent respectively in October.
