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Sharon Talks Up Negotiations as Six Palestinians Killed
JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday he was ready to negotiate with the Palestinians, after unleashing a blitz that killed six and netted a gang of Islamic Jihad activists suspected of planning more bomb attacks.
The Palestinians, eagerly awaiting a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday, were skeptical about Sharon's words, as an Israeli helicopter earlier in the day blew up a senior activist from the Islamic resistance group Hamas and troops killed three other activists.
Sharon pushed ahead with his strong-arm policy of assassinating Palestinian activists, which has been widely condemned by the international community, including
Israel's staunchest ally - the United States.
To date, more than 70 Palestinian political leaders and figures have been assassinated by Israel in the past year.
In a succession of operations, an Israeli helicopter attack in Al-Khalil (Hebron) blew up Jamil Jadallah, accused by Israel of organizing some of the deadliest bombings in over a year of turmoil, while tank fire killed another Hamas activist in Tulkarem.
Two gunmen from Arafat's Fatah movement also died after being fatally wounded in a firefight with troops in the West Bank, triggered by an attempted ambush on an Israeli car.
Two Palestinian policemen were killed in a skirmish after they opened fire on an Israeli tank at one of their checkpoints near the besieged northern West Bank town of Qalqilya, Palestinian security officials said.
The six deaths, which pushed the toll of the 13-month bloodletting to 944, including 739 Palestinians and 183 Israelis - according to Western sources, came after Israeli forces swept into another Palestinian self-rule village.
The dawn raid on Arrabeh, near Jenin in the northern West Bank, netted four Jihad members and four relatives of one of the activists, the Israeli army said.
Sharon told a gathering of world Jewish leaders in Jerusalem that he was ready to head talks with the Palestinians, but gave no time frame for possible negotiations.
"We are ready to negotiate. Myself, I am going to lead all the negotiations, I really believe in that," he said.
Sharon has been under mounting pressure from Washington to seek an end to the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, thereby smoothing the way for U.S. efforts to win Arab backing for its strikes in Afghanistan.
That pressure has increased since Sharon sent his tanks on to Palestinian land in and around six autonomous towns two weeks ago. Around 65 Palestinians were killed during the incursions, including women and children.
He has only pulled out of one of the towns - Behlehem - so far and says he will remain in the others until Israel's tourism minister's assassins are brought to Israeli justice.
Washington has demanded an immediate withdrawal, but Israel has said it is only following Washington's lead in Afghanistan and called the U.S. demand "unacceptable".
Despite the chill in relations, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell phoned Sharon to say he hoped to see him in Washington soon, although the Israeli leader said he might cancel a planned trip for security reasons.
Palestinian officials were skeptical about Sharon's offer of talks, which came as he was about to discuss with his Foreign Minister Shimon Peres whether to let the dovish left-winger meet Arafat at a conference in Spain Friday.
Arafat, drumming up support in Norway on the latest leg of a European tour, expressed enthusiasm for a meeting, though Israeli officials said Sharon had little appetite for it.
Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath said, "We are always ready to negotiate, if Sharon is ready to come to the negotiating table according to international resolutions."
He was referring to U.N. resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw from all land occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, including East Jerusalem.
Earlier Wednesday, senior Palestinian official Ahmed Abdel Rahman said Arafat expects Blair to make a ground-breaking "historic promise" for a Palestinian state, which the British prime minister already stated support for after a trip to Damascus and Riyadh and which U.S. President George W. Bush also stated support for last month.
In Riyadh, Blair renewed his call for a viable Palestinian state, as he became the first foreign head of government to address Saudi Arabia's
shura, or advisory, council.
"We must keep our eyes on the longer term goal - a viable Palestinian state, implementation of U.N. resolutions and past agreements and a just settlement" for all the parties, he said.
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