Occupation Troops Kill a Palestinian Police Officer in Gaza as Diplomacy Intensifies Ahead of a Quartet Meeting in New York Next Week

12/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Two Palestinian Photographers Wounded in Jenin||Occupation Army Discovers Tunnel on Egypt-Israel Border||An Israeli Minister Arrives in Cairo & Bush Telephones Mubarak||France Warns that Vacuum Could Strengthen Radical Groups in the Middle East|| STORY: Early Friday, a Palestinian was killed in a clash in Gaza, Palestinians said. Israeli occupation troops entered the town of Dir al-Balah and exchanged fire with police, killing an officer, they said.

On Thursday, in the West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli occupation forces shot and wounded two Palestinian news photographers, one critically, Palestinians said.

OCCUPATION ARMY DISCOVERS TUNNEL ON EGYPT-ISRAEL BORDER

In the midst of an occupation army operation on the Egypt-Israel border early Friday morning, a tunnel was discovered and destroyed by the occupation army. The tunnel was used as a means to smuggle weaponry from the Egyptian side to the Palestinians.

The tunnel was located in the "pink area", an area under occupation army control.

ISRAELI MINISTER IN CAIRO

On the diplomatic front, Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh visited Cairo Thursday and held talks with Egyptian presidential adviser Osama al-Baz on the deadlocked Middle East peace process, airport sources said.

The visit by the minister, who is a member of the Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's Labor Party, lasted for only a few hours and took place as Egypt bolstered efforts to address the Palestinian situation, Baz told reporters after Sneh's departure.

BUSH ON THE PHONE

Amid a flurry of Middle East diplomacy, President Bush earlier called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, Egypt's official news agency said. (Read photo caption)

Bush and Mubarak agreed that "consultations will continue in order to bring opinions closer between Israel and the Palestinians," the Middle East News Agency said.

A New York meeting of the Middle East "quartet" -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- is also due to take place next week, with plans for the group to meet the foreign ministers of at least Egypt and Jordan, and possibly also Saudi Arabia.

FRANCE REGISTERS IMPATIENCE

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin registered his government's impatience at a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell.

De Villepin said Israel must withdraw to the borders it had before defeating the Arabs in the 1967 Mideast war and gaining control of east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

"We feel we need to fight very strongly against terror," he said, endorsing U.S. policy on that front. But the French minister also stressed a need for prompt "political action," warning that "a vacuum can be very dangerous and let the terrorists and those who don't want peace take the initiative."

At a news conference, de Villepin tried to revive the idea of an international peace conference, which the Bush administration has temporarily shelved. He said it need not deal with the future of Jerusalem and the status of Palestinian refugees - two explosive issues - but could "create the momentum to put pressure on everyone for a quick settlement."

PHOTO CAPTION

President Bush walks to his helicopter from the Oval Office across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2002. Political adviser Karl Rove walks at right. Bush is en route Minneapolis, combining GOP fundraising with an effort to prod Congress to pass his version of a plan to help seniors pay for prescription drugs. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhit