RAMALLAH,
West Bank, November 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As the
Israeli army continued Saturday, November 22, its onslaught killing an
11-year-old Palestinian child and a Hamas activist in the West Bank
and Gaza, Israeli and Palestinian officials were engaged in parallel
peace efforts ahead of a much-anticipated meeting between Ariel Sharon
and Ahmed Qorei.
Despite
a relative lull in the more than three-year-old cycle of violence, the
Intifada's death toll continued to rise when a Palestinian child and a
resistance activist were killed by Israeli occupation troops in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
During
an incursion by around 10 Israeli armored vehicles and a bulldozer in
the northern West Bank city of Jenin, troops responded with gunfire to
stone-throwing, killing Ibrahim Jalamna, 11, Palestinian medical
sources and witnesses told AFP.
Earlier
in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian
whom they said was planting a roadside bomb near the fence between the
Palestinian territory and Israel, military sources said.
"The
soldiers opened fire on a suspicious figure in area whose entry is
forbidden to Palestinians near the security fence" east of Beit
Hanun, the source said, explaining the man was suspected of planting a
bomb.
A
Kalashnikov assault rifle was found next to his body and after several
hours of searches, Israeli troops found a 20-kilo explosive device in
the area, according to the Israeli sources.
The
body was then repatriated and the man was identified by medics at Gaza
City's Al-Shifa hospital and family as Ahmad Assaf, a 22-year-old
activist from the resistance group Hamas.
The
deaths brought to 3,618 the total number of people killed since the
start of the Intifada in September 2000. Among them are 2,700
Palestinians and 852 Israelis, according to an AFP count.
The
army also announced it had arrested eight suspected Palestinians
overnight in the West Bank, four of them near Ramallah and the other
four in the Nablus area.
Parallel
Peace Moves
According
to sources close to Palestinian Prime Minister Qorei, Israeli and
Palestinian officials are drafting documents aimed at resuming peace
talks, including lists of commitments and measures for both sides.
The
main framework for the renewed peace efforts is the
internationally-backed "roadmap" for peace, which was
officially endorsed in June but has become a dead letter.
Israeli
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom had said Tuesday that the two Premiers
would meet within the week, but one Palestinian official said the
much-anticipated summit was unlikely to take place so soon.
"The
Palestinian Prime Minister's entourage wishes to assess the
repercussions of the official signing on December 1 of the Geneva
Initiative," the official said.
He
was referring to an unofficial peace plan drafted by Israeli
left-wingers and Palestinian personalities which Sharon has squarely
rejected. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has cautiously supported
the initiative.
"There
is no reason to hurry before we find out whether or not the Geneva
Initiative stirs some kind of tension within the Israeli
government," the official added to AFP, on condition of
anonymity.
Israeli
public radio reported Saturday that Sharon had held a secret meeting
during his visit to Rome this week with an envoy of U.S. President
George W. Bush.
The
radio did not reveal the identity of the U.S. official but said the
discussions focused on means of reviving the moribund
"roadmap."
Burns
In The Region
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Palestinians joined by Israeli and foreign peace activists demonstrate against Israel's separation barrier
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Meanwhile,
the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported Saturday that the United
States' top Middle East diplomat William Burns would kick off a new
visit to the region in two weeks to give fresh impetus to the roadmap.
Burns
said he would carry out a "new tour to the region, in two weeks
to re-launch the roadmap and examine developments in Iraq",
according to the official Egyptian daily.
Speaking
in Washington to Al-Ahram and other Arab newspapers, the U.S.
envoy promised that the United States would be an active partner of
the Palestinians, so long as they stuck to commitments laid out in the
roadmap.
He
also called on Israel to carry out its own commitments to the roadmap,
Al-Ahram said.
Israeli
Fence Protested
In
a separately-related development, hundreds of Palestinians joined by
Israeli and foreign activists demonstrated near the northern West Bank
town of Bartaa, on either side of Israel's separation barrier.
The
4,000-strong Palestinian town, which straddles the Green Line with
Israel, has been cut off from the West Bank cities which are vital to
its economy by the barrier.
Some
300 Palestinian protestors supported by foreign activists from the
International Solidarity Movement gathered on the West Bank side of
the fence, chanting slogans against the barrier.
Around
1,000 Palestinians and Israeli peace activists were on the western
side of the gate, but a heavy army deployment prevented them from
crossing the gate.
A
survey released on November 11 by the U.N. Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that the barrier only conforms to
Israel's recognized boundary on 11 percent of its planned route.
The
report said that it would thus de-facto annex 15 percent of the West
Bank and lead to severe humanitarian consequences for more than
680,000 Palestinians.
"Little
consideration appears to have been given by the Israeli government to
the wall's impact on Palestinian lives," the report said.
