Israel relaxing restrictions on military
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
JERUSALEM Ñ Israel is said to have released some of the restraints
on the military in its nine-month-old war with the Palestinians.
Government sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has given the green
light for the military to launch attacks against organizers of Palestinian
attacks against the Jewish state. The sources said the attacks being
approved are against Palestinian combatants rather than against
installations.
On Sunday, a member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction
was killed in the West Bank city of Nablus. Osama Fathi Jawabra, described
as a 29-year-old bombmaker, was killed in an explosion in a
telephone booth.
PA officials blamed the Mossad for the assassination. Israel has not
reacted to the blast.
The Israeli sources did not take responsibility for the blast. But they
said Jawabra was on an Israeli list of 20 Palestinians submitted to the PA
for detention. Last week, Israel set a 48-hour deadline for their arrest, a
demand the PA ignored.
Overnight Monday, Palestinian gunmen fired on Israeli motorists and army
vehicles throughout the West Bank. Palestinian gunners also fired mortars at
a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. On Monday morning Palestinians in
Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip fired at the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim.
No casualties were reported.
Later on Monday in Washington, Sharon is scheduled to meet with senior
U.S. officials, including
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is expected to press Israel to
implement recommendations of the Mitchell commission. Sharon, who earlier
held talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will meet President
George
Bush on Tuesday in Washington.
Sharon said he didn't expect to wait long until Israel launches attacks
on PA targets. The prime minister said that so far Israel continues to
maintain the ceasefire with the PA.
"We're talking about a critical stage, a last attempt," Israeli
President Moshe Katsav said. "We have come to the end of our rope. It won't
continue much longer. It's a matter of days."
But a senior official who is traveling with Sharon said Israel has
chosen a defensive position rather than a campaign against the PA. The
official said senior Israeli ministers decided against the collapse of the
PA to facilitate the prospect of a political agreement with the Palestinians
after the war ends.
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