- "The 14-year-old Palestinian who died of his injuries
was wounded Monday after youths threw rocks at Israeli troops in Rafah,
near the Egyptian border, witnesses said. Military bulldozers, accompanied
by three army vehicles, had moved into the area to demolish Palestinian
houses, the witnesses said."
-
- Jerusalem (AP) -- Israel's Defence Minister said Tuesday
he has no immediate plans to dismantle Jewish settlement outposts and he
defended the proposed route of a security barrier that cuts deep into the
West Bank.
-
- In a report released on Tuesday, the United Nations said
only 11 per cent of the planned 690-kilometre chain of walls, razor wire
and ditches will actually follow the "Green Line," the invisible
frontier between Israel and the West Bank.
-
- The barrier will ultimately disrupt the lives of 680,000
Palestinians and carve off 14.5 per cent of the West Bank, the report said.
Israel says it is building the barrier to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians
say they fear Israel is grabbing land.
-
- Also Tuesday, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy wounded by
army fire a day earlier died of his wounds, hospital officials said.
-
- Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, meanwhile, said
he is in touch with extremist groups about halting attacks on Israeli civilians.
Mr. Qureia, who is to begin a new term Wednesday, hopes to reach a ceasefire
with Israel before resuming talks about implementing the U.S.-backed peace
plan, the so-called road map.
-
- Mr. Qureia made it clear that he expects Israel to respond
favourably to his efforts. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said
he is ready to meet with Mr. Qureia.
-
- "We are not against meetings with Sharon or any
other Israeli official, but ... we want meetings that will end with positive
and tangible results for the benefit of the peoples," Mr. Qureia said
late Monday.
-
- Israeli settlement outposts in the West Bank and the
barrier are high on the list of Palestinian concerns. Palestinians say
the outposts and barrier threaten their goal of establishing an independent
state in the West Bank and Gaza.
-
- Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking to Israeli
Army Radio on Tuesday after a meeting a day earlier with Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld in Washington, showed no signs of yielding on either issue.
-
- Last week, the Defence Ministry said it would review
the outposts, leading to speculation that some would be dismantled to ease
American concerns during Mr. Mofaz's Washington trip. Under the peace plan,
Israel must remove dozens of outposts set up since March, 2001.
-
- "The discussion in my office regarding the unauthorized
outposts ... was determined ahead of time, not linked to my trip, and no
decision was made about any upcoming evacuations," Mr. Mofaz told
the radio.
-
- He said military officials would continue to evaluate
the outposts along with Israel's security needs.
-
- "I have to say that in the past year, a number of
outposts were dismantled," most of them in agreement with settlers,
he said.
-
- Peace Now, an Israeli monitoring group, said the number
of outposts has dropped slightly, to 101 or 102, since the peace plan was
unveiled in June. But Peace Now spokesman Dror Etkes said the population
and infrastructure have grown.
-
- Mr. Mofaz said the security barrier did not come up in
his talks with Mr. Rumsfeld, although other officials may raise the issue.
Asked about concerns that the United States may withhold aid to Israel
because of the fence, Mr. Mofaz held firm.
-
- "I don't know yet if there will be a price as far
as U.S. aid is concerned. It will certainly be discussed in the future,"
he said. "But to the question of need, I have no doubt that this is
necessary, and I can explain this to the Americans."
-
- Israel says it is building the barrier through the West
Bank and around Jerusalem to keep out Palestinian extremists. The barrier
has emerged as a major point of contention between the United States and
Israel, with U.S. officials demanding it not cut into the West Bank.
-
- Mr. Mofaz's comments threatened to weaken Mr. Qureia
as he prepared to present his new cabinet for parliamentary approval on
Wednesday.
-
- Approval was likely, despite dissatisfaction over its
composition, both at home and internationally. Israel and the United States
are unhappy with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's continued control over
security forces.
-
- They want eight security forces to be united under an
empowered interior minister answering to Mr. Qureia to enable a crackdown
on violent groups. The extremists are responsible for hundreds of attacks
against Israelis in three years of conflict. The peace plan calls for dismantling
such groups.
-
- The 14-year-old Palestinian who died of his injuries
was wounded Monday after youths threw rocks at Israeli troops in Rafah,
near the Egyptian border, witnesses said. Military bulldozers, accompanied
by three army vehicles, had moved into the area to demolish Palestinian
houses, the witnesses said.
-
- The army said it had sent troops into the area to clear
out tunnels that have been used by Palestinian weapons smugglers. A spokesman
said the troops were operating in a closed military zone along the border
and were not demolishing homes.
-
- The army said it was unaware of the boy's being shot.
-
- © 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
-
- http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031111.
wmide1111/BNStory/International/
|
