Young boys walk through the rubble of a home destroyed in Gaza

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, September 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A bomb exploded under the car of an Israeli navy officer in the Israeli village of Harish by the West Bank overnight, Israeli army radio reported Wednesday, September 11.

The pipe bomb used in the attack is a common weapon in the Palestinian militants’ armory, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Suspects were apprehended in the area, north east of Tel Aviv but opened fire on a police patrol and fled, the radio said. No one was hurt in the bomb blast.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation troops and tanks launched a double incursion into the autonomous Palestinian northern Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian security forces said Wednesday, September 11.

An Israeli armored column staged an incursion late Tuesday into Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, the sources said.

Shots were heard in the sector, the sources said, but there was no word on casualties.

Meanwhile a second Israeli army unit made a similar incursion into neighboring Beit Hanoun where another exchange of fire ensued between armed Palestinians and Israeli troops, they said. Here too there were no reports of casualties.

The Israeli occupation army said in a statement that 10 Palestinians linked to anti-Israeli attacks had been arrested during the operation.

A bomb exploded during the search for suspects and troops responded with gunfire without causing any casualties, the army added.

The Israeli army also said that four other wanted Palestinians had been picked up in the West Bank.

In another development, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was facing a possible parliamentary vote of confidence Wednesday over a much-criticized cabinet reshuffle.

Arafat was set to meet Palestinian legislative councilors from his own Fatah movement here ahead of an the expected parliamentary vote of confidence later in the day, Fatah member Jamal Choubaki told AFP.

Jamal Shaati, a Fatah deputy from Jenin in the northern West Bank, said earlier that he and his colleagues would meet during the day to decide whether or not to lend their support to Arafat’s cabinet, reshuffled in May under pressure from home and abroad.

“There is so far no decision from Fatah as a (parliamentary) bloc on how to vote, but I can say there's a trend not to vote for the government,” he told AFP.

“This government is only an extension of the previous one and we have not seen any change so far. We are looking for fundamental change, which we have not seen any sign of.”

The vote had been scheduled for Tuesday, but did not take place before the end of the session and was postponed to Wednesday, parliament sources said.

Fatah’s acting West Bank chief, Hussein Sheikh, who is not an MP, called Monday for members to vote the cabinet down, saying the new line-up included ministers opposed to the two-year-old Palestinian uprising, or intifada.

On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met in a west Jerusalem hotel with a senior Palestinian delegation headed by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, both sides said.

“We cannot speak of a positive result after the meeting,” Erakat told AFP about the talks, adding that political, economic, humanitarian and security issues had been discussed.

However, the Israeli foreign ministry issued a statement at the end of the meeting saying it would open the cities of Jericho and Bethlehem - the only two West Bank towns not reoccupied by the army - to tourists in a move apparently aimed at easing the ailing Palestinian economy.

Both sides also said they agreed to meet again “in the coming days”. The Israeli foreign ministry statement said Israel’s Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and Palestinian interior minister Abdel Razaq al-Yahya would soon meet in what would be an “opportunity for the Palestinians to raise the possibility of adding Al Khalil (Hebron) to the Gaza-Bethlehem plan”.

Peres was accompanied at the meeting by Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s right-wing Likud party, the statement said.

Before the talks, Erakat said the Palestinian side would include interior minister Abdel Razaq al-Yahya, civil affairs minister Jamil al-Tarifi, minister of finance Salam Fayad and economy minister Maher al-Masri.

Erakat said earlier the meeting was taking place at the urging of the United States and the European Union “to discuss several accords which have not been implemented, including the Israeli withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip and Hebron.”

That was a clear reference to the August security plan which called for Israeli troop withdrawals from Palestinian self-rule areas in return for a Palestinian security force crackdown on anti-Israeli attacks.

One Year After September 11 September 11, 2002 Finds Arabs Sympathetic But Furious at U.S. Pro-Israel Policies Condolences & Criticism As Africa Marks 9/11 Sympathetic Pakistanis Partly Blame U.S. for 9/11 Tragedy Arab Anti-Americanism Higher Than Ever on 9/11 Anniversary Muslim Children Across The U.S. Remember 9/11 Reuters: Islam Takes to The Web in The Aftermath of 9/11 Mandela Condemns “Black-White” U.S. Policies Islamic Scholars Refute Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 Justifications U.S. Marks Sept. 11 With Upgraded Terror Alert Washington D.C. Area Mosques Holding 9/11 Services, Vigils Hekmatyar Denies Calling For Jihad Against Karzai Bush Challenges U.N. on Iraq, Threatens “Unavoidable Action” Saddam Impersonator Nabbed At U.S. Embassy in Singapore Chechen Refugees Protest Russian Pressure to Send Them Back Manila on High Alert After Truck Bomb Threat to U.S. Embassy China Hails U.N. Move to List Turkistan Group As Linked to Al-Qaeda Western Media Propagating “Dangerous Lies” After 9/11: Fisk Annan Warns Bush Not to Act Alone on Iraq 600 Central Command Staff Moving to Qatar Israeli Tanks Move into Gaza City, Demolish More Homes Erbakan Runs for Turkish Elections As Independent MP Bush Readies U.N. Speech, U.S. Ponders Need to Take Out Iraqi “Threat” Palestinian Cabinet Resigns, Arafat Accepts Anti-Zionist Radio Islam Raided by Police in Sweden Karachi Police Avert Possible Attack in Gun Battle U.S.-Led Troops Launch Fresh Hunt for Regrouping Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan Explosion Under Israeli Army Car, Double Incursions in Gaza Washington No Longer Claims Iraq Linked to Al-Qaeda 100 Feared Dead In Major Indian Train Mishap, Sabotage Feared Simputer - Computer For Poor Masses To Roll Out Soon Widespread Concern Over Charges Against Kashmiri Journalist Geelani Afghan Warlord Says His Troops Surround Khost, Will Seize City Bush To Threaten Iraq, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia & Egypt: Fisk Palestine … Three Massacres in 5 days Homeless in Minutes War on Iraq.. World Reaction Yesterday's News Search Articles      News Archive : Day: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31     Month: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12   Year: 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999