|
Sharon Expresses Regret Over Shooting To Powell
JERUSALEM, April 9 (News Agencies) - Israel has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell expressing regret for a shooting incident in which the army opened fire on a Palestinian convoy carrying officials returning from top-level security talks, an Israeli diplomatic source said Monday.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon described the shooting near the Erez checkpoint between the Gaza Strip and Israel following the meeting last Wednesday as "unfortunate," the letter said, according to the source.
"The government of Israel regrets that the incident ever took place," according to the letter sent Friday. "The entire affair appears to have resulted from mistakes and misunderstandings."
The letter came on the heels of an unusually harsh U.S. rebuke of Israel over the shooting, which a top Palestinian security official, who was in the convoy, had labeled a premeditated ambush.
The Palestinians are demanding an Israeli apology before holding a further security meeting, following earlier expectations that the two sides would meet again on Monday.
Sharon said in the letter that the Israel army was engaged in a thorough investigation and had asked the Palestinians to join but that they had "regrettably" not responded.
"The government of Israel continues to hope that the Palestinian Authority will fulfill its obligations and take the steps required to prevent terrorism and open warfare against Israelis in order to bring about a cessation of hostilities after which political negotiation between the two sides can proceed," the letter said.
Israel has admitted firing on the convoy just after it entered the Gaza Strip following a meeting of security chiefs aimed at quelling months of deadly unrest.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the shooting "a very serious incident," and said it had prompted immediate phone calls from Powell to Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
"Israel does have a responsibility to provide the safety and security of Palestinian officials traveling to and from security meetings," Boucher said.
Sharon's letter said that since Wednesday's meeting there had been a "further escalation of violence and terrorism by the Palestinians" including at least 10 incidents of mortar fire against Israeli targets.
"We are accordingly left with no choice but to take all necessary steps in a clear act of self defense to protect the lives of our citizens."
Meanwhile, violent clashes spread around the West Bank on Monday after a Palestinian man was killed overnight by Israeli gunfire near the village of Beitunia, witnesses and medical sources said.
A mortar bomb fired by Palestinians meanwhile struck the Jewish settlement of Atzmona in the southern Gaza Strip Monday afternoon, leaving no injured but damaging an electricity pylon, an Israeli army spokesman said.
Similar incidents have triggered retaliatory attacks by Israel on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip.
In Beitunia, Palestinian witnesses and security officials said four Israeli soldiers were wounded in an exchange of fire as they tried to enter the village that lies between Ramallah and Jerusalem, but the army categorically denied it suffered any casualties.
"There is no basis to Palestinian claims that a soldier was either killed or wounded in Beitunia," it said in a statement.
The army said a military jeep had been shot at in the area and that the army had returned fire.
Israeli tanks and troops closed in on Beitunia on Monday and two Palestinian schools in the village were evacuated during a three-hour gunfight between Palestinians and Israeli troops, witnesses said.
On Sunday, Taysir al-Amuri, a 45-year-old bedouin, was shot dead by Israeli machine-gun bullets after being caught up in another gunfight in the area.
Residents described the man as psychologically disturbed and said that he had not been involved in the gunfight.
The Israeli army said its forces had fired on a "suspicious figure" suspected of planting a bomb near the Beitunia bypass road in Area B of the West Bank under Israeli security and Palestinian administrative control.
"The army is checking the incident," a spokeswoman said, adding that the Israeli military had issued a warning to Palestinians not to walk in the area at night.
The army also reported that Palestinian gunmen also opened fire towards the Ofer army camp near Beitunia and a military post in the village. The army responded but no injuries were reported.
Since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September, 470 people have died, most of them Palestinians.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, Israeli troops fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at dozens of stone-throwing Palestinian youths, witnesses said, adding that no one was injured.
Ultra-nationalist Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi was visiting an enclave of around 400 hardcore Jewish extremists in the majority Palestinian town of around 120,000, witnesses said.
The Israeli army said three Molotov cocktails were thrown towards the Jewish cemetery in the Israeli controlled sector of the city, frequently a flashpoint between Palestinian residents and the radical Jewish settlers.
In al-Khader, near Bethlehem in the West Bank, a gunfight broke out between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops Monday evening after Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli army post at the entrance to the village, residents said.
Residents said Palestinian homes in the village had been targeted by Israeli machine-gun fire.
The Israeli army said it had returned fire after being shot at and that there were no injuries or damage.
|
