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More Palestinians Killed as Syria Calls for Resumption of Peace Talks
HEBRON, Oct 6 (IslamOnline and News Agencies) - A second Palestinian was shot dead Saturday night in an exchange of fire in the West Bank flashpoint city of Hebron (Al-Khalil), as Syria "calls for the resumption of the peace process" with Israel, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Amjad al-Kawasmi, 22, was hit by a bullet while driving with his father close to clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the Arab quarter of al-Sheikh, Palestinian security sources said.
A member of the same family, Hamzeh al-Kawasmi, 24, was shot dead in the same neighborhood earlier, one of two Arab-controlled quarters raided by Israeli troops early Friday morning.
The death toll for the year-old Palestinian uprising now stands at 864, the majority of whom are Palestinians - most under the age of 18.
An Israeli border guard was also lightly hit by a Palestinian stonethrower, while one Palestinian was wounded by Israeli fire in al-Sheikh, Israeli army officials added.
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians and wounded 15 others Friday, despite a mutually agreed upon ceasefire brokered by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
Israel has, since the initiation of the ceasefire, killed at least 20 Palestinians.
Some 400 Jewish settlers live in a heavily guarded settlement situated in Hebron.
In violation of autonomy accords, Israeli troops continued to hold positions in Hebron Saturday night, home to 120,000 Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Syria "call[ed] for the resumption of the peace process" with Israel, put on hold since January 2000, said a senior ruling Baath party official here Saturday, quoted by the official SANA news agency.
"Syria is calling for just settlements to international conflicts, for a world order based on law and justice, and for a resumption of the peace process in the region," ruling Baath party deputy regional secretary Suleiman Kaddah said in a speech marking the 28th anniversary of the 1973 October War between Israel and the Arabs, at a ceremony held at Damascus University.
Syria seeks "the implementation of U.N. security council resolutions and the principles of reference of the Madrid conference" where the peace process was launched in 1991, he said, reaffirming Damascus' conditions for a settlement.
"Israel must be compelled to implement those decisions and to withdraw from the occupied Arab lands up to the June 4, 1967, line," which prevailed before the Six-Day War of that year, he said.
Syria also requires the Jewish state to "recognize the rights of the Palestinian people to return, to self-determination and to build an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," he added.
But Israel blasted Kaddah's call, warning that Syria "has to stop supporting terrorist activity" and "oust the terrorist groups" based in Damascus.
"Some of the most dangerous and radical terrorist groups in the world are finding refuge in Damascus," claimed a high-ranking Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, citing 11 groups including the Israeli occupation resistance groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
In 1967, Israel seized Syria's Golan Heights, the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including now illegally occupied East Jerusalem, and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The latter territory was returned to Egypt under a peace treaty.
International law has since called upon Israel to return the remaining illegally occupied areas, which Israel has refused to do.
Talks between Syria and Israel have been frozen since January 2000. Syria demands that Israel recognize its right to full recovery of the Golan Heights before they resume.
On the September 11t attacks in the United States, Kaddah reiterated that, "Syria rejected terrorism aimed at civilians, innocents and communities."
"The Arabs are its [terrorisms] first victims," he added, referring to Israel's repression of Palestinians.
Syria, he said, "calls for the eradication [of terrorism] in all its forms, for the need to make a distinction between terror and resistance to foreign occupation, and to determine the causes of terrorism through an international effort and an active role of the United Nations."
Kaddah pressed for "a unified Arab and Islamic position that stresses in front of the world that the Arab and Islamic civilization is a civilization of peace, so that Israel's attempts to mobilize the world against Arabs and Muslims are held in check."
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