 |
Fatah Leader Accepts Ceasefire, But to Continue Intifada: Radio
A leader of the Palestinian mainstream Fatah movement Monday endorsed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's ceasefire order, but he added that the intifada, or uprising against Israel, will continue.
Hassan al-Sheikh, a local commander in the West Bank, told Israel Radio, "We are honoring the chairman's decision for a ceasefire. This is an opportunity from the Palestinian side. We are giving a possibility of ending this war that the government of Israel has opened against the Palestinian people."
But he stressed that the ceasefire order is irrelevant to the popular uprising triggered by a provocative visit by Ariel Sharon, then Israeli opposition leader and current prime minister, to an Islamic holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem late last September.
Since then, over 570 people had been killed in bloody clashes, most of them Palestinians.
"We are stating that the popular intifada is the natural right of the Palestinian people. It is the thundering voice of the Palestinian people in opposing the occupation," al-Sheikh said.
Meanwhile, Israel is keeping watching for signs of a Palestinian ceasefire on the ground. The order was announced by Arafat on Saturday after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up and killed many others in Tel Aviv Friday night. The death toll has risen to 20 after a 25-year-old Israeli man died of his injuries Sunday night.
Monday morning, a bomb exploded in a West Bank highway near the Jewish settlement of Ariel, some 35 kilometers north of Jerusalem, lightly wounding an Israeli.
In Gaza, two mortar shells were fired from the Palestinian area at the settlement of Kfar Darom overnight, causing no injuries.
But Israeli security sources admitted that the overall level of violence obviously ebbed in the territories for the third consecutive day.
In a related development, Israel's Army Radio reported Monday morning that Arafat's ceasefire order only applies to Area A under full control of the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The report quoted unnamed Palestinian officials as saying that the Palestinians could not be responsible for security in areas that remain under partial or full Israeli control, such as the Jewish settlements dotting the territories.
Israeli Minister Without Portfolio Danny Naveh told the Army Radio that if Arafat does not take steps immediately to stop the violence, including arresting members of militant Palestinian groups, Israel will launch attacks against Palestinian targets.
It was revealed Monday by a senior Israeli military official that Israel Air Force had already prepared to land a "severe assault" on the Palestinians in response to Friday's suicide bombing, and that the air strike was canceled at the last minute as a result of Arafat's declaration of a ceasefire.
In This Section
|