Palestinians and Israelis were at loggerheads Saturday over the interpretation of the US-brokered Middle East peace timetable, said reports.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said on his return to Gaza City from Lisbon that the one-week trial period of “no violence” to kick off the US-brokered Middle East process towards peace negotiations "began Wednesday."
But an Israeli official in Jerusalem said later that the week had not yet begun.
"There is no sign on the ground of a return to absolute calm. The start of the countdown (of the trial period) will begin when there is a total halt to the violence," said the official, quoted by Haaretz newspaper.
In Cairo, senior Palestinian minister Nabil Shaath made similar comments to Arafat Saturday, saying that "the week-long period will end on Thursday."
Shaath implied that a week of total calm between Israelis and Palestinians was an impossible demand, asking: "Would it be possible for the United States to guarantee zero violence in Washington D.C. for 24 hours?"
Meanwhile, an Israeli Arab truck driver was lightly injured Sunday morning when his truck was fired on as he was travelling on a road linking the West Bank settlements of Psagot and Beit El, said Haaretz.
The man was struck in the foot by two bullets.
The paper also said that two Palestinians were killed overnight Sunday by Israeli troop.
It claimed that the two were killed when Israeli troops, who were lying in ambush, opened fire on an armed Palestinian cell moving in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Israeli army spokesman reported that troops “fired after spotting the five-man cell moving near the IDF's Bezek base.”
Three of the Palestinians reportedly fled the scene.
And as Arafat was returning to Gaza after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Portugal, Israeli television reported a bomb explosion late Saturday near the farming village of Ram On in northern Israel, although there were no injuries, Haaretz said,
The device, thought to have been triggered by a mobile phone, had been left on a road near the demarcation line with the northern part of the West Bank which is used by Israeli border patrols, the television said.
Earlier, there were shooting and petrol bomb incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the paper added.
Although there were no injuries, the unrest again cast doubt on the hoped-for start to the seven days of total quiet Israel is demanding before it will move forward with the Mitchell Commission's recommendation of a six-week truce and then new political negotiations – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
