A top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the deadly Israeli incursion into Rafah in the Gaza Strip, saying it was an “attempt to torpedo the results of a meeting between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh was quoted by the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, as blaming the Israeli government for the escalation in Rafah where five Palestinians were killed and at least 30 injured by Israeli tank fire.
He urged the US and world countries to condemn the attack, saying it had "erased world efforts to restore calm" in the Middle East.
Israeli tanks rolled into the Gaza Strip overnight and opened fire on a Palestinian refugee camp, killing five people and wounding at least 31 others.
The incursion took place just hours after Peres and Arafat had agreed to work to build a lasting truce and brought a quick condemnation from a Arafat aide.
Three of the tanks that took part in the operation were still on the scene early Thursday, 50 meters (yards) inside the autonomous Palestinian zone, WAFA said.
Initially, five tanks moved about 100 meters (yards) into Palestinian territory near Rafah, on the border with Egypt, accompanied by bulldozers.
The tanks opened fire with heavy machineguns and cannon on a nearby refugee camp, Palestinian sources said, adding that fourteen houses were destroyed by the bulldozers.
Among the injured, 10 were in serious condition, medical sources told WAFA.
The Arafat-Peres meeting lasted around 90 minutes, with the two leaving their delegations to go head-to-head in private for half an hour, said AFP.
After the meeting, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereikat read a joint statement vowing a return to "full security cooperation" and pledging to "exert maximum efforts to sustain the declared ceasefire."
He said Israel would begin to lift its military blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has created a stranglehold on Palestinians' everyday lives, and to redeploy its forces.
The White House immediately welcomed the deal as "an important first step" towards peace, after a year-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians that has claimed more than 820 lives.
"The United States calls on both sides to seize the moment and exercise maximum efforts to follow up these positive developments with immediate concrete actions," spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who telephoned both sides, said "I hope that we can move rapidly through this process so we can begin to see confidence building activities in the region."
In New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, through his spokesman, hoped the Peres-Arafat meeting would "result in a sustainable dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians and that the current cycle of violence can be brought to an end."
And the EU presidency also welcomed the Gaza meeting as "an important step" in reviving the long-stalled Middle East peace process, the agency added.
The agreement aims to revive two internationally-backed plans: the Mitchell understanding on rebuilding confidence between the two sides and the Tenet agreement on forging a durable ceasefire.
Both sides declared a truce last week, since when at least four people have been killed and dozens wounded, although Peres said there had been a clear drop in Palestinian violence.
Until the very last minute, the meeting itself was in doubt after armed Palestinian burrowed under an Israeli army bunker close to the airport and planted a huge explosive charge, destroying the blockhouse and injuring five Israeli soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had warned that no meeting could go ahead as long as violence continued on the ground.
But he softened his stance after Washington piled on the pressure for a drop in regional tensions, which the United States sees as crucial to its bid to pull together a global coalition against terrorism.
Wednesday night's death brings to 825 the number of people killed since the start of the Intifada. Of these, 633 were Palestinians and 169 were Israelis, according to AFP’s estimates – Albawaba.com
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