Situation in Palestinian Areas Under Control: OfficialThe forces of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) are in full control of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, chief of the PNA's preventive security apparatus said on Monday.In an interview with Israel Radio, Jibril Rajoub said that " Palestinian (National) Authority forces are in complete control of the situation in the Palestinian territories." People in Israel and the Palestinian self-rule areas who are not interested in rapprochement and peace should not be given power of control, said Rajoub, adding that the peace negotiations should be resumed as soon as possible. "In the final analysis, the Palestinians will judge (Israeli Prime Minister-elect) Ariel Sharon according to his deeds, not according to statements made before the elections," he added Rajoub's comments came against a backdrop that there was a marked increase of clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the recent days. Violence has also renewed at the southern outskirts of Jerusalem as Palestinian gunmen started shooting Sunday evening at the Jewish settlement of Gilo from the opposite Palestinian village of Beit Jalla. Sharon, who won a landslide victory in the prime ministerial election last Tuesday, has refused to resume Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from where the negotiations were left off by the outgoing administration led by caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The Palestinians, who have been calling for a renewal of negotiations on the basis of the understandings reached before, have adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward the right-wing hawkish Israeli leader. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |