Sharon Meets Top Palestinians, Israeli Army Rocket Police Buildings In Gaza
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Feb. 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Shortly after Israeli premier Ariel Sharon held face-to-face talks with Palestinian officials, Israeli helicopters attacked a Palestinian police building in the Gaza Strip.
These talks were the first since Sharon came to office last year, news agencies reported.
Palestinian securoty sources said that Israeli helicopter gunships rocketed a Palestinian naval police headquarters in Dir al-Balah central Gaza. There were no injuries but the building was heavily damaged.
The talks took place on Wednesday and lasted several hours, Israeli and Palestinian sources confirmed.
Wednesday Sharon met in occupied Jerusalem with the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, Ahmad Qorei, PLO number two Mahmud Abbas and Mohammad Rashid, economic advisor to Arafat. AFP reported that the meeting was kept secret until Friday evening when Israeli public radio reported it.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, trapped in his West Bank headquarters of Ramallah since early December, told reporters on Saturday he had approved the meeting.
Meanwhile, Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres welcomed the meeting and voiced his hope it would open-up a "political horizon".
In New York on Friday night Peres spoke after talks with Qorei about a joint plan aimed at restarting negotiations.
Israel radio reported that Sharon would meet the three men again after returning from a visit to Washington next week.
Separately, Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in occupied Jerusalem on Friday, renewing talks put on hold a month ago amid an upsurge in violence, BBC said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the news of both sets of talks.
"We might be having some progress once again," he said.
Earlier this week, Sharon told an Israeli newspaper that he did not reject meeting with Palestinian leaders only without Arafat.
An Israeli Government source told BBC that Washington pressurized Israel for practical suggestions to calm the conflict. But the source said he was skeptical anything concrete would develop.
The latest talks came after Sharon took a series of unprecedented steps against Arafat, including confining him to his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Palestinian officials accused Sharon of seeking to topple Arafat and his Palestinian Authority as Israel attempts to quell the intifada or uprising.
Animosity between the sides was deepened by Sharon's remark on Thursday that he regretted that Israel had not killed Arafat in 1982 when its army invaded Lebanon.
