- HAR GILO, West Bank - Israeli
officials on Monday halted plans to return control of more West Bank cities
to the Palestinians after Palestinian security forces failed to prevent
a shooting attack late Sunday that injured four Israelis outside a Jewish
settlement in the West Bank.
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- But the Israeli government planned to release about 400
Palestinian prisoners as early as Wednesday. Government spokesman Avi Pazner
said that "goodwill" gesture was needed to sustain the fragile
peace negotiations.
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- The shooting victims, an Israeli woman and her three
children, were from Har Gilo, a 90-family settlement near Bethlehem. It
was the first attack in the vicinity of Bethlehem since Israel returned
that city to Palestinian control last month.
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- Har Gilo official Igal Dimant said the release of prisoners
would show Israel's support for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister.
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- "As much as the attack hurts, there is no use letting
the extremists" derail negotiations, said Dimant, 55. "If the
release can help (Abbas) from a security point of view, we will benefit."
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- The attack took place hours after Israel rejected a Palestinian
proposal for a permanent cease-fire because the proposal also would have
allowed Abbas to avoid disarming militant groups.
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- Most Palestinian militant groups called a temporary cease-fire
June 29. Since then, violence has dropped significantly, although Israeli
authorities accuse Palestinian terrorists of using the time to rearm for
more attacks.
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- Abbas quickly condemned the Har Gilo attack. But Elias
Zananiri, spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Security Affairs and
Interior, said Israel put such tight restrictions on Palestinian authorities
that there was little they could do to find the attackers.
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- "It is obviously our duty to prevent any violation
of the truce, but we can't move our officers from one place to another,
from one city to another," Zananiri said. "We don't even have
facilities to lock up those we charge."
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- Pazner said Sunday's ambush was in an Israeli-controlled
area, but according to military authorities the attackers came from Palestinian-held
land.
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- "What we need is action by the Palestinians, not
condemnation," Pazner said Monday. Palestinian failure to act against
those who plan or carry out attacks against Israel "endangers the
whole process of the `road map,' " the U.S.-backed peace plan.
-
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- Nelson reported from Ra'anana, Israel, Churgin from Har
Gilo.
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- http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/6456799.htm
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