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Top Official Of Arafat's Fatah Group Says Ceasefire Still In Force
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| Karmi is the last victim of Israel’s assassination policy |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Jan. 15 (News Agencies) - The ceasefire decreed last month by Palestinian president Yasser Arafat is still in force, a senior leader of his Fatah movement said Tuesday, a day after Raed al-Karmi, a leader of a Al –Aqsa Brigade the military wing of Fatah was assassinated in Tulkarem by Israeli occupation forces soldier.
"Officially, the ceasefire decreed by President Arafat and the Palestinian Authority is still in force for both Fatah as well as for Tanzim," Hussein Al-Sheikh, a Fatah leader in the West Bank, told Israeli radio, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Tanzim is a cover-all term used by Israel for armed Fatah members. Fatah is headed by Arafat and forms the main part of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Sheikh said he "spoke Monday evening with President Arafat, who confirmed to me the continuation of the ceasefire."
But he warned of "very strong pressure from the grass-roots," saying "we are at the end of our patience with regard to this war being waged by Ariel Sharon's government against the Palestinian people."
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades announced Monday the end of the truce it had declared on January 1 and vowed to avenge the death of Karmi.
The Palestinian leadership which blamed the death on Israel, accusing its government of heightening tensions.
Karmi’s assassination is the first targeted assassination by Israel for more than a month.
More than 70 Palestinian resistance activists have been assassinated by Israel’s occupation forces in an assassination policy adopted and approved by the Israeli cabinet.
In another development Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique called in Amman Tuesday for Israel to restore Yasser Arafat's freedom of movement "as soon as possible" for the sake of peace efforts.
"Mr. Arafat must get back his freedom of movement as soon as possible. It is necessary for the peace process," said Pique, whose country currently holds the European Union's (E.U.) rotating presidency.
Ringed by Israeli army tanks, the Palestinian leader has been confined to the West Bank town of Ramallah for more than a month.
Pique, speaking at a press conference after talks with King Abdullah II, also called for a lifting of Israel's blockade on the Palestinian territories, saying it would serve Israeli interests as much as those of the Palestinians.
The E.U. and Jordan are agreed on the need to overcome the "current impasse" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said, before leaving for Cairo, the second leg of his Middle East tour.
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