One Israeli soldier and two Palestinian fighters were killed Monday afternoon during a fierce gunbattle in the village of Asira al-Shimaliyya, three kilometers north of Nablus, Palestinian sources said. According to Israeli media reports, Israeli forces detained several Hamas activists in this village.
Meanwhile, U.S. State Department official William Burns met Monday with Yasser Arafat to try to resolve the key dispute holding up the start of cease-fire talks — standoffs between Israeli troops and “wanted men” in the Palestinian leader's West Bank headquarters and Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
Key issues in the Burns-Arafat talks were the standoffs in Ramallah and Bethlehem, truce prospects and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, according to Palestinian and U.S. officials.
In Arafat's headquarters, speculation was running high that Israeli forces would try to break in and snatch the wanted men. Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last week refused to give Arafat a guarantee that Israeli troops would not seize the fugitives.
Israeli officials close to Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said, however, the government was carefully weighing the regional implications if army commandos were to storm Arafat's refuge.
According to the Palestinian senior negotiator, Saeb Erekat, the Israeli army will attack Arafat's compound soon. The Palestinian official said that U.S. President George W. Bush is "rewarding" the terrorism of a state which Sharon is committing as a man of peace, adding that Sharon is gaining the personal support of Bush.
In Bethlehem, an Israeli officer confiscated the press credentials of 17 journalists from Reuters, the Associated Press, BBC and other international media organisations on Monday.
Journalists had been operating before in the West Bank city, except in the area around the Church of the Nativity.
A group of journalists was approaching Bethlehem's besieged Manger Square, as they have done almost daily for the past three weeks, when an army major stopped them and said: "This is a restricted area. You know you shouldn't be here."
He ordered them to hand over their Israeli government-issued press cards, which are essential for crossing military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying they would be shown to the army's press office.
"I will bring them back to the hotel as soon as possible," the officer said, referring to the Bethlehem hotel where the journalists were staying. "Wait for your press card at the hotel". (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
