The Israeli army detains more Palestinians

NABLUS, June 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As Palestinian-Israeli security talks ended in Gaza with a possible “agreement in view”, Israeli occupation forces detained more 100 resistance activists in a massive raid on the West Bank early Tuesday, June 24.

In al-Khalil, the raid by elite infantry units was still underway and was expected to wind up "in the next few hours," said a statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In Nablus, the Israeli forces closed off the city’s Casbah under cover of darkness after clashes with resistance fighters. No casualties were reported.

Elsewhere, two Palestinian children were wounded, one of them seriously, by Israeli fire in the refugee camp of Nur el-Shams near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, medical sources said.

The Israeli army said it sought locals wanted for carrying out attacks against Israeli targets, but the Palestinian government slammed the incursions as undermining efforts to clinch a truce with resistance factions.

The raids came after Israeli special units assassinated late Saturday Hamas leader Abdallah Kawasmeh, a move slammed by the United States and other members of the Quartet peacemaking members as it came at a sensitive time in which a ceasefire by Palestinian factions was negotiated.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell scolded Israel for the assassinating Kawasmeh as it might impede peace efforts, while Hamas warned that it would not go unpunished.

Positive Turn

Talks about peace continue, clashes on the ground also continue

Tuesday's crackdown came as security talks between Palestinians and Israeli officials took a positive turn.

After days of acrimony, Palestinians put a positive spin on their latest discussions with Israeli officials on a security handover in the northern Gaza Strip and the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Israel's channel 10 said the sides were engaged in lively discussions for the first time on the handover.

"An agreement is from now in view," the channel said.

"This time the meeting was very serious, the Palestinian delegation has presented a list of demands and the Israelis have committed themselves to giving us a response," a Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The coordinator of Israeli activities in the occupied territories, General Amos Gilad, Palestinian minister of state Mohammad Dahlan and Gaza public security chief Abdelrazeq al-Majeida were taking part in the meeting at the Erez border crossing into the Gaza Strip.

The fresh talks follow Sunday night's meeting with U.S. envoy John Wolf over the details of the possible Israeli pull-out.

If the Palestinian security services successfully take control of the situation, the move should be extended to reoccupied areas in the West Bank, in line with the roadmap for peace which both sides have accepted.

"What we want is that the Palestinian Authority commits itself to take over responsibility for areas we are ready to evacuate and fight terrorism, in line with Mahmud Abbas's declaration at the Aqaba summit," Gilad told public radio earlier.

Israel has said it would be ready to withdraw from Bethlehem and the northern Gaza Strip in exchange for a Palestinian crackdown on its resistance factions.

But the Palestinians have insisted Israel stop its policy of capturing wanted militants in the territories.

As part of a deal, the Palestinians have also demanded unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip's north-to-south highway, which has been covered with Israeli checkpoints since the Intifada to occupation erupted in September 2000.

The talks followed a flare-up of violence and warnings from the architects of the internationally-drafted peace plan that the cycle of violence must be ended.

Four Palestinians were killed in an explosion on Monday in the Gaza Strip amid conflicting reports on the cause.

Israeli troops also staged an incursion into the autonomous southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, demolishing four buildings and sparking clashes which left one Israeli soldier wounded, security sources on both sides said.