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Israel
Receives Zinni With Incursions And Abductions
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Zinni
returns, but Israeli violence
continues |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Jan. 3 (IslamOnline
& News Agencies) – Israel has continued its incursion policy into
Palestinian cities and towns, and the abduction of Palestinian resistance
activists Thursday, hours before U.S. peace envoy, Anthony Zinni's return to the
region.
Four Palestinian men accused
of being members of the resistance group, Jihad, were abducted early Thursday
during an incursion by Israeli paratroopers in Hebron in the southern West Bank,
Israeli military sources said Thursday, news agencies reported.
The sources claimed that the seized men are suspected of participating in
"anti-Israeli terrorist operations".
They were abducted in Hebron's Toufah region, in a part of the town under the
full control the Palestinian Authority, the sources said.
Israeli public radio claimed “the operation was part of the series of
political arrests of "terrorists" by special units making
"targeted interceptions".
On Monday, two Palestinian children aged three and 13, were killed in Hebron
during an Israeli helicopter raid, according to Jihad sources.
Under the terms of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, Israel pulled
out of 80 percent of Hebron in 1997, while maintaining control of the town
center where hundreds of troops protect some 400 Israeli settlers.
The latest Israeli incursion
comes as U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Anthony Zinni, is due to return
to Jerusalem on Thursday as part of renewed efforts to kick start stalled peace
talks, reported BBC’s online service Thursday.
Zinni will discuss a number
of issues with Palestinian and Israeli officials, including establishing a
sustainable ceasefire and the full implementation of the U.S.-backed Mitchell
peace plan, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Zinni is scheduled to return
to Washington early next week, where he will report to the Secretary of State,
Colin Powell.
The region has been
relatively calm for two weeks, but hard line Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel
Sharon, has reiterated a demand for a seven-day cessation of violence before any
ceasefire deal will be considered.
Meanwhile, cracks widened in
the Israeli leadership's approach to dealing with the Palestinians, before
Zinni's arrival and following a dramatic drop in anti-Israeli violence.
Sharon reiterated his hawkish stance that there must be seven days of complete
calm before the ceasefire talks Zinni is meant to usher in can take place.
Sharon's attitude, stemming from his oft-repeated refusal to "negotiate
under fire," was denounced by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat as a
bid to undermine Zinni's mission even before he arrived.
Even Israel's Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, said that in light of a
tailing-off of unrest after Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, ordered an end
to all attacks, Israel should move rapidly on the so-called Tenet understanding,
a U.S.-drafted truce plan.
In a sign that he would not
soften his stance ahead of Zinni's visit, Sharon also said Wednesday night, for
the first time in public, that Arafat would remain confined to his headquarters
in Ramallah until he arrests the killers of Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam
Zeevi.
Sharon, during a gathering of his right-wing Likud party near Tel Aviv, claimed
Arafat, "who gives his protection to the murderers of a minister in Israel
will stay where he is, until these assassins are arrested and punished."
Washington tamped down the high expectations that Zinni's return to the Middle
East would produce dramatic results, but expressed hope his second visit to the
region could lead to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian truce.
"The mission continues, the involvement of the United States, the
involvement of general Zinni continues," State Department spokesman,
Richard Boucher, said Wednesday, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"His return is part of the continuing U.S. effort to help the parties end
the violence, restore confidence, and resume a political process," Boucher
told reporters in Washington.
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