Two More Palestinians Killed as Bush Renews Promise to Publish Peace 'Roadmap'

28/03/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli occupation forces killed two members of the Palestinian security services in the Gaza Strip, while US President George W. Bush repeated his promise to publish a long-awaited "roadmap" for Middle East peace. Iyad Khalil Fayad and Ihab Jarras were killed during an Israeli raid on the town of Beit Hanun that left another 15 Palestinians wounded, two of them seriously, Palestinian officials said.

Tanks backed by a helicopter gunship had entered Beit Hanun earlier and surrounded a position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Force-17 elite bodyguards, wounding one of them, Palestinian security sources had said.

The deaths brought the toll of nearly 30 months of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians to 3,113, including 2,336 Palestinians and 719 Israelis.

Qassam Rockets Fired at Internationally Illegal Settlement

Later, three homemade Qassam rockets were fired from inside the north of the Gaza Strip into the Israeli town of Sderot, the Israeli occupation army said, but did no damage.

The attacks were claimed by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in retaliation for the dawn raid on Beit Hanun.

In the West Bank, 22 Palestinians were arrested in sweeps overnight, an occupation army source said, and eight makeshift bombs seized in Jenin.

One of the men arrested was a wanted Islamic Jihad operative who the occupation army said had hidden in a Red Cross building, a charge denied by the aid group.

Suqiye, 20, was wanted for suspected involvement in resistance attacks in Israel and in the West Bank.

Later Thursday, four Palestinians were wounded when they came under fire from Israeli occupation troops in the Gaza Strip.

After a brief lull in fighting that accompanied the start of the war in Iraq, violence has returned to the Palestinian territories, with the occupation army shooting dead six Palestinians this week, including three children.

Bush to Release the 'Roadmap' Towards Peace

At Camp David, Maryland, Bush said the United States would "soon" release the "roadmap" towards peace.

He reiterated in a press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he had a "vision" for Middle East peace, though critics have said he is unwilling to invest presidential prestige in the crisis.

"Soon we will release the road map that is designed to help turn that vision into reality," Bush said, but he did not specify exactly when the plan would be published.

The roadmap, drafted by the diplomatic quartet of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, lays out steps to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and create a Palestinian state by 2005.

Responding to Bush's statement, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called for concrete action.

"We hope that these promises are not just trying to soften us up ... and that we can expect action rather than words."

He recalled that the publication of the plan had already been put back six times. "I don't know what pretext he could find for putting it off a seventh time," Erekat said.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian mourner cries as he carries the coffin of Iyad Khalil Fayyad, 30, during his funeral in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun (AFP/Fayez Nureldine)