Roundup: Sharon Announces New Measures to Ease Restrictions on Palestinians

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 29, 2002

Roundup: Sharon Announces New Measures to Ease Restrictions on Palestinians

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced on Sunday that his country would adopt a series of new measures to improve life in the Palestinian areas after more than five weeks of curfews on more than 1 million Palestinians.

A statement from Sharon's office said he had ordered cutting the duration of curfews, increasing the number of work permits issued to Palestinian workers from 7,000 to 12,000, and dismantling some checkpoints in the Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, Israel was also scheduled to transfer about 15 million US dollars of frozen funds to the Palestinian National Authority in an apparent gesture to seek calm after the Gaza raid at midnight on Monday.

The air strike, which killed the leader of Hamas military wing Sheikh Salah Shehada and 14 others, including nine children, sparked vows of revenge from the Palestinians.

Palestinian Finance Minister Sallam Fayad met with the director-general of the Israeli Finance Ministry, Ohad Marani, on Sunday to finalize the transfer of the 15 million dollars, which is part of the estimated 600 million dollars in tax revenues Israel has withheld since the Israeli-Palestinian bloody conflicts broke out 22 months ago.

Israel has said it will release some of the money to Fayad, provided that it isn't used to fund attacks, but to improve life for the Palestinians, whose economy has been crippled by the prolonged conflicts.

The new goodwill moves came as a new skirmish erupted in the divided West Bank town of Hebron, which led to the death of a 14-year-old Palestinian girl. Ten other Palestinians and 15 Israeli policemen were also injured in the clash.

The trouble began when Jewish settlers carried a body of a soldier killed Friday in a Palestinian ambush from the biblical Tomb of Patriarchs in Hebron, through the narrow streets of Hebron,to the cemetery.

The Palestinians, though confined to their homes by a curfew, pelted stones at the procession. The armed settlers responded immediately, firing shots at Palestinian homes and smashing windows of cars and homes in Hebron's Old City with metal bars andstones, witnesses said.

The Israeli soldier buried on Sunday was killed by Palestinian militants in a roadside ambush Friday near Hebron that also killeda Jewish couple and one of their children.

In other developments on Sunday, Israeli troops stormed some houses and farms of the villages of Burkin, Selat Al Dhaher, Zabadeh and Qabatya in the Jenin area.

Burkin villagers said that the Israeli troops raided the house of Maza Jaradat, a member of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military wing linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, who was killed several months ago in an armed attack against Israel.

Palestinian Radio reported that at least four Palestinians werearrested during the raid.

In an operation in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli troops arrested two local Hamas leaders. One of the two had been the intended target of a missile attack that instead killed his wife and three children in March. The Israeli army accused the twoof having been involved in suicide bombings in March and May that killed a total of 26 Israelis.

Meanwhile, Palestinians said that the Israeli army raided the villages of Ithna and Yatta in the areas of Hebron, when they gathered all males aged from 15 to 50 in the villages, put them in schools and started questioning them one by one.

The Palestinian ambush on Friday followed pledges by Palestinian militants to avenge the internationally-condemned Israeli air strike on Gaza last week. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigadeshas claimed responsibility for the ambush.

Following two suicide bombing attacks in Jerusalem in June, the Israeli army reoccupied most of the West Bank towns and villages that were under Palestinian control. And Palestinians are complaining worsening living conditions under tight Israeli siege.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Israeli Troops Arrest 4 Top Hamas Leaders in West Bank

Preparations Underway for Israeli-Palestinian Meeting

Renminbi Appeals Increasingly to Domestic Users: Statistics ( 8 Messages)

Institutional Guarantee for the Selection and Appointment of Capable People ( 2 Messages)

News Analysis: Why China Ranks Sixth in World Trade ( 3 Messages)

Missing Worker Found, Relatives Mourn ( 80 Messages)

China Protests over Falun Gong Resolution by US Congress ( 13 Messages)

Secret of China's Manned 'Spaceport' Revealed ( 98 Messages)