Middle East bloodshed takes shine off peace talks

By NIDAL AL MUGHRABI in Gaza

Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli officer in the Gaza Strip and Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in the West Bank yesterday, stirring more tension despite a resumption of talks between the sides.

A military spokesman said the Israeli Army captain was shot as troops searched for tunnels on the Egyptian border used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.

Commenting on the incident, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group with links to President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said its forces had confronted an Army patrol just inside Gaza.

In the West Bank, medical officials in Nablus said a 19-year-old died of chest wounds after an incident in which witnesses said an Israeli tank crew opened fire with a heavy Machinegun to disperse people violating a curfew.

The Army made no comment on that incident.

Warning United States President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of more attacks, the brigades said: "Bush and Sharon must understand the battle of our people against them is long and will not be decided in one round or two."

The bloodshed underlined the problems of reviving peace talks despite faint signs of optimism after Israel and the Palestinians this week held their first high-level talks in four months and agreed on more contacts in the near future.

It also highlighted the difficulties facing a "quartet" of Middle East peace-brokers as they prepared to meet in London to discuss international financial support for Palestinian reforms. A task force of officials from the quartet, which groups the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the US, was to be joined by others from Japan, Norway, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In a letter to the quartet, reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Arafat said reforms to his Palestinian Authority could not be completed unless Israeli troops withdrew from West Bank cities.

The reform plan "requires an end to Israeli occupation and curfews and an end to collective punishment policies against the Palestinian people", Arafat wrote. He said Jewish settlement-building must also stop.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres held meetings this week with newly appointed Palestinian ministers involved in reforms to security services and fiscal management.

Sharon said afterwards that peace "looks distant". But, he said, "maybe some type of window has been opened".

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo cautioned against high expectations, saying: "Israel did not promise anything. It just sends a false signal to the international community."

Sharon's Government has demanded Arafat's removal. It cut off ties with the authority after a series of suicide bombings in the 21-month-old Palestinian revolt against occupation.

Sharon and Bush have demanded an end to militant attacks and reform of the authority as conditions for reviving peacemaking.

Political sources said Israel had agreed to set up a committee to discuss matters raised during the talks and that it would study the possible release of Palestinian funds held in Israeli state coffers since the violence began.

The quartet is also working on ways to relieve the hardships faced by Palestinians as Israel has clamped down during the uprising. It is expected to plan how to work with Palestinians on the authority's 100-day reform blueprint.

Palestinians are also angry over Israel's closure this week of a leading moderate's office at Al Quds University in Arab East Jerusalem, where he is president.

Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's top official in Jerusalem, said he had met lawyers to prepare a petition against his eviction from the office, which Israeli authorities alleged was used on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in violation of interim peace deals. Nusseibeh denied the charge.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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