U.S. special Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni is to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Friday in the Palestinian leader's besieged headquarters in Ramallah, after Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday evening allowed the meeting to take place.
Sharon has vowed to keep Arafat isolated from contacts with the outside world as part of Israel's offensive in the West Bank.
Two top European Union envoys arrived in Israel on an urgent mission to press for a cease-fire, but they went home again after failing to win permission to visit Arafat. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique criticized the decision after a meeting he and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana held with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv.
"We are insisting that there be a change of attitude so that everybody can talk to everybody else," Pique said, adding that this could pave the way for a cease-fire and a return to talks.
In the meeting with Zinni, Sharon said that the Israeli operation in the West Bank would continue. "Palestinian terror and its organizers must be suppressed," Sharon said. "Israel demands the immediate extradition of wanted people and illegal weapon," Sharon said.
Sharon rejected the U.S. initiative to accelerate the diplomatic process and said that "diplomatic negotiations carried out before Palestinian terror is suppressed will bring to an increase in terror."
Zinni is to try to persuade Arafat to accept the envoy's recent proposal for a cease-fire and for implementation of the Tenet truce outline.
Clashes
The Israeli army continued its town-by-town march through the West Bank, as tanks moved into the heart of Nablus.
Only two major Palestinian towns, Hebron and Jericho, are still outside Israel's grip.
Palestinians battled back in Nablus with rifles, grenades, mortars and rockets. At least four Palestinians in the largest West Bank city were killed. One Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire when he opened a window in his apartment in Nablus, Palestinian security officials said.
The Israeli army said Thursday it had arrested 1,100 Palestinians and seized quantities of weapons.
In Bethlehem, Palestinian gunmen were still holed up in the Church of the Nativity, one of the holiest sites in Christianity, which is surrounded by Israeli troops. Israel contends dozens of Palestinian gunmen are inside.
Palestinian sources inside the church said the Israeli army had blown an iron door off the church compound, believed to lie over the site where Jesus Christ was born. Israeli officials denied the report.
At least five Palestinians were killed in Thursday's fighting, including three gunmen and a church caretaker, who witnesses said was shot while walking to the Church of the Nativity from his home.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed Thursday. An officer in a Border Police undercover unit was killed in a clash with Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank city of Hebron. The dead officer served as the unit's operations officer.
He was killed during a siege on a home in Hebron where a wanted man and his brother were holed up. Israel Radio reported that when troops stormed the house, they found the brother wounded inside, but the wanted man had apparently escaped.
Earlier in the day, three soldiers were killed in a fierce gunbattle between Israeli troops and armed Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jenin. One other soldier was seriously injured, and several others sustained light wounds. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
