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Arafat on Hold in West Bank, More Palestinians Killed
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| Arafat awaits the Israeli final say on whether he will be permitted to travel to the Arab summit or not |
JERUSALEM,
March 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies)- While the world focuses on
the developments in the Arab summit and whether Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat will be attending it, the situation in Palestine remains
explosive.
Two
Palestinians were killed in a car explosion Tuesday, March 26, near
the city's Malha Mall near the village of Walajeh south of Jerusalem,
close to Bethlehem, news agencies reported.
Israeli
Shin Bet security services and members of the Border Police claimed to
have uncovered an attack. Israeli police stopped the two Palestinians
at the security check, saying the two were allegedly heading towards
the mall which Israeli police claimed they were guarding after
intelligence reports indicated it could be targeted.
News
agencies quoted police spokesman Kobi Zariyahu as saying: "The
car with explosives was headed from the outskirts of the West Bank
town of Bethlehem toward southern Jerusalem when police spotted it.”
Police ordered the car to stop.
Israelis
shopping for Passover, the Jewish holiday which begins at sundown
Wednesday, March 27, filled the mall, the Jerusalem Post reported.
According to the BBC there were no casualties.
This
came after Palestinian security official reports that four Israeli
tanks and a bulldozer moved into the Palestinian territory of
Bethlehem Monday, March 25, and opened fire, Agence France Presse
(AFP) reported.
Israeli
soldiers began closing off access to nearby Palestinian villages as
the tanks moved in, the officials said. There were also no casualties
reported.
Four
Palestinian civilians and one Israeli soldier were slightly wounded in
gunfire in the West Bank town of Hebron, officials said. Israeli
troops also intercepted a car bomb overnight in the northern West
Bank.
A
15 year old Palestinian youth also died Monday from wounds inflicted
on him earlier this month, the AFP reported.
According
to BBC’s online news service, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has
advised the Palestinian president not to travel to the summit in
Beirut, warning him that the Israelis may not allow him to return to
Palestine.
Israeli
Prime Minister Arial Sharon has said he is waiting to see Arafat
committed and “serious about peace” before allowing him out of his
West Bank office, BBC reported.
Israel's
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Tuesday that despite a
definite fall in the level of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
over the last few days, Arafat had not given “clear orders to his
security forces to impose a cease-fire”.
Ben-Eliezer
also said he would prefer allowing Arafat to leave Ramallah. “In the
interests of Israel and its security, he must be freed so as to avoid
giving him the least pretext not to fight against terrorism," he
claimed, quoted by BBC.
Arafat,
on the other hand, has expressed his resentment for the Israeli
insistence on preventing him from attending the Arab summit until he
fulfills their conditions, and has demanded that he exercise his
“right” to return to Palestine after the summit.
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