Shrapnel lightly injured an Israeli soldier on Monday after Israeli Army sappers defused two bombs they found near the West Bank city of Nablus, Israel Radio reported.
On Sunday afternoon, army sappers detonated a large bomb Palestinians had placed in the same area.
Palestinians also fired at an Israeli army roadblock on Monday south of Hebron. No injuries have been reported.
Peres
Senior Palestinian officials said Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres met Sunday evening in Jerusalem with Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmad Quray (Abu-Ala) in an attempt to resolve their differences regarding several clauses in their joint document, Israel Radio reported.
In an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica, Peres was quoted as saying on Monday that Europe must support the United States in its war against terrorism and should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
"I hope that Europe will continue to support the US stance, especially with regard to terrorism. In general any division between the United States and the European Union is dangerous and counterproductive for peace," he said. "I ask my European friends to be neither pro-Israeli nor pro-Palestinian, but simply to be pro-peace."
Peres said that granting Palestinians autonomy in certain areas of Gaza and the West Bank had not been sufficient. "The Palestinians now seem weaker than before. Therefore I think that there is an urgent need to recognize their state. Moreover, I don't see any reason to wait. The sooner this is done, the better," Peres explained.
Meanwhile, Peres is due to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on Thursday to review the Middle East crisis. Spain currently chairs the 15-nation European Union. Europe believes there should be less emphasize on security and more on political aspects of the conflict, a different viewpoint to that of Israel and the United States which have called upon a halt to violence in the Mid-East region before peace negotiations can restart.
Peres claimed Israel's army would respond to any new threat even if the political goal was to avoid more violence. "Israel's army will find the way to respond and confront each new threat," Peres said.
Gaza
Palestinian officials report that Israel has set up a “security zone” one to three kilometers long in the Gaza Strip.
They say the Israeli army has established a demilitarized security zone between El Burej refugee camp and the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
An Israeli Army official said a few army positions have been established to prevent mortar fire and Qassam rockets from entering Israel. The increased military presence, he said, prevented Palestinians from firing a Qassam-2 rocket from an area near the Green Line on Saturday morning. Instead, the Palestinians fired the rocket, which landed on a road near Kibbutz Kfar Azza and caused no casualties, from the Gaza periphery.
Meanwhile, Israeli Intelligence Major-General Aharon Ze'evi said on Sunday that the Qassam-2 rockets can not reach Israeli population centers. He predicted the Palestinians would try to increase the missiles' range, which is currently around six kilometers. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
