A Palestinian was seriously wounded Friday by six bullets fired at him by Israeli troops who also arrested him. Meanwhile, two Israelis were lightly injured in separate incidents, according to reports.
Palestinian witnesses had told AFP that Ismael Abu Rumeya, 37, had been killed by troops guarding the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, near the Israeli village of Kissufim, having seen the Israelis take away his body.
But an Israeli source said Rumeya was being cared for in the orthopedic wing of the Sorak hospital in Beersheba.
Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Abu Rumeya, who is a Hamas activist, was moved to an unknown place.
Colonel Khaled Abu Ula, Palestinian head of a liaison committee with the Israelis in the southern Gaza Strip, also told AFP he had been assured that the man was still alive.
Meanwhile, an Israeli settler, responsible for security at the Netzer Hazani settlement in the southern Gaza Strip, and an army officer, were slightly hurt when a bomb exploded at an entrance for Palestinians working in the settlement.
Elsewhere an Israeli bus serving the Ofra settlement in the northern West Bank came under fire from Palestinians which caused no injuries, said AFP.
The Israeli army also announced the arrest of an official of the armed wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fateh movement overnight in the village of Salem near Nablus in the West Bank.
Another Fateh official, Salah Abu Hamed, 35, was held as he was returning to the Gaza Strip from Egypt, relatives said.
Fateh threatened Thursday to avenge the death of three members killed in a mysterious blast in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah the previous day, for which they blamed Israel.
The Israeli army has denied any knowledge of the incident.
In related developments, Palestinians were quoted in report s as saying the Israeli bulldozers were demolishing houses near the borders with Egypt.
The procedures came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that settlements in the Palestinian territories are not a problem as far as a peace settlement is concerned.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post published Friday, he said, “I don't see a problem to the issue of settlements. In Oslo it says, I think, that until there is a peace agreement, we won't talk about settlements. If we make peace, what's the problem with there being settlements? Who does it bother? Aren't there Israeli-Arab-Palestinians living in Nazareth? And large numbers in Beersheba, Lod, and Ramle? What is the problem? I don't see any problem. So long as there's no peace, there is no [settlement] issue. And in a period of peace, what is wrong [with Jews living in settlements]?
Israeli leaders were meeting Friday to discuss an initiative to stop seven months of Palestinian-Israeli clashes, and field commanders from the two sides discussed cooperation, after a day of relatively little violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
However, Palestinian activists were threatening revenge against Israel after a bomb blast killed four prominent Fateh activists near the Israel-Egypt border late Wednesday.
Palestinian and Israeli area commanders met at the District Liaison Office north of Ramallah in the West Bank to discuss security cooperation, Palestinians said, quoted by The Associated Press. Neither side would comment after the which meeting was scheduled during the last US-sponsored session between senior Israeli and Palestinian commanders on Monday, said the agency.
Sharon was meeting with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres the same day to work out a detailed Israeli response to an Egyptian-Jordanian initiative to end the violence, said an Israeli official, requesting anonymity.
The initiative calls on Israel to take steps like lifting travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, withdrawing troops and tanks, releasing tax money and halting construction in Jewish settlements. Israel objects to some of the points and also complains that the plan does not insist that the Palestinians stop attacks against Israelis.
“It's good that there are initiatives. It's positive, especially since Egypt and Jordan are countries with which we have peace agreements. We received a proposal. We think it needs some changes and improvements. We will give our answer to that. Peres is to visit Egypt on Sunday to discuss the plan,” said Sharon in the interview.
Peres will also visit Jordan Sunday, to convey Israel’s reply to the joint initiative.
However, Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi charged that by discussing the initiative, Sharon is violating his pledge not to conduct negotiations until all violence stops. Ze'evi also complained that Sharon has not brought the initiative before Israel's Cabinet for discussion.
Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said Sharon's agreement to deal with the plan was just a tactical move.
"I trust Arafat that he will not accept a single condition that is being presented by Ariel Sharon and Peres," Rivlin told Israel Radio.
Though Thursday's Israeli Independence Day celebrations passed without incidents, and only a few exchanges of gunfire were reported overnight in the West Bank and Gaza, tension remained from the bomb explosion that killed the leader and three other members of the Popular Resistance group in Gaza Wednesday, said the AP – Albawaba.com
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