A member of the Palestinian Fateh faction was seriously injured Tuesday when his car came under fire in the northern West Bank, a Fateh official said, describing the attack as an Israeli assassination attempt.
Ashraf Bardaweil, 27, was hit when he was driving near the village of Dhennabeh near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, Fateh official Faeq Kanaan told AFP.
Medical officials said he was in a serious condition.
In Ramallah, at least seven Palestinian university students and professors were injured when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowds trying to open a road leading to Beir Zeit University, reported the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
Israeli occupation troops closed the main road to the university following Friday’s Tel Aviv suicide bombing that killed 20 Israelis.
Since the outbreak of the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict last September, Reuters reports that Palestinians have killed approximately 88 Israelis with weapons ranging from stones and knives to machineguns and car bombs. The latest suicide bombing raises that toll by at least 20. Israeli military sources have reported well over 600 injuries to Israelis of Jewish descent.
In the same time period, according to CNN, Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers have killed 13 Arab Israelis and 450 Palestinians with weapons ranging from machineguns and tanks to US-made Apache helicopter gunships and F-16s. Amnesty International puts the number of Palestinian children kiled at nearly 100.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported over 14,000 Palestinians wounded.
Jewish author Noam Chomsky, who according to a New York Times Book Review article is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” has been quoted as saying: “State terrorism is an extreme form of terrorism, generally much worse than individual terrorism because it has the resources of a state behind it.”
HAMAS OFFICIAL DENIES CEASEFIRE WITH ISRAEL
A senior official with the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas denied on Tuesday that the group had declared a ceasefire and vowed to continue the uprising against the Israeli occupation.
"The Hamas movement did not announce any truce with Israel and will continue its resistance and jihad (holy war) against Israel," Hamas political official Ismail Abu Shanab told AFP.
He was speaking after a joint statement was issued Monday by the military wing of Hamas and an armed Fateh group which said they would "stop operations" in Israel, conditional on Israel's acceptance of a withdrawal from the occupied territories.
"After seeking clarification...about the statement issued yesterday in the name of (Hamas's) Ezzeddin Al Qassam Brigades and (Fateh's) Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, it has been confirmed to us that the movement (Hamas) does not stand behind that statement," Abu Shanab said.
He said the statement "does not conform to the movement's policies, which call for continuing the resistance as long as the occupation continues."
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called for a ceasefire on Saturday after a Hamas suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed 20 Israelis, and triggered fears of harsh Israeli reprisals.
The bombing was claimed by Ezzedine Al Qassam, which has carried out numerous deadly anti-Israeli attacks in recent years.
Abu Shanab said: "Hamas will continue on its military and political path in resisting the Israeli occupation and will not announce any truce with the occupation."
In the meantime, Haaretz had reported that the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) declared overnight Monday that they would not back Arafat's ceasefire call. The paper did not elaborate on the factions' refusal to accept the ceasefire.
PERES: GAUGING TRUCE EFFECTIVENESS IS 'A MATTER OF WEEKS'
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday that the Palestinians had made a "serious" start to implementing a ceasefire declared by Yasser Arafat on Saturday, but that judging the full effectiveness of the truce was "a matter of weeks," reported Haaretz newspaper.
"This time they are making a serious effort," Peres said of the Palestinians, in an interview on Army Radio, cited by the paper.
But he pointed out that Arafat also had "limitations. He has a high degree of control on the ground," he said. "I don't know if he has absolute control. I don't think anyone knows."
If the ceasefire held, Peres estimated it could be up to five months before the two sides headed back to the negotiating table.
He added that while Israel was talking of an eight-week cooling off period before various confidence-building measures -- including a freeze on settlements as outlined in the Mitchell report -- went into effect, the Palestinians were demanding a four-week period.
"At present there is no building in the territories," said Peres, who has been toiling to find a settlement-freeze formula acceptable to both [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon and Arafat.
"So there's no need to talk about an end to building. It's not at a level that requires a dramatic declaration."
SOLANA SEES MIDEAST PEACE INITIATIVE WITHIN DAYS
The international community should be able to propose a Middle East peace initiative in a few days if the situation there remains calm, the European Union's foreign policy chief said Tuesday, quoted by Reuters.
"We need to have security on the ground if we want to move into the next step, which is the political initiative," Javier Solana said.
"In a couple of days, in two or three days, if we see that the situation continues (to be calm), I think the international community should take an initiative to the parties so that we move into the next phase," Solana told a news conference.
Solana said there was a "solid coalition of countries" behind a Middle East peace plan outlined in the Mitchell commission report, which could form the basis for moving ahead to a peace initiative.
"So the moment we have stability and calm on the ground, I think we should be able to move the process politically forward on that track. That is my dream, and in that sense that is the only way that I would use the word optimistic," he said, cited by the agency – Albawaba.com
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