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Israeli Army Ordered to Delay Relaxing Closure on Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Thursday ordered the army not to relax closure on certain areas where the Palestinians do not observe the ceasefire agreement, Israel Radio reported.
The order came after two Palestinian mortar attacks occurred in the Gush Katif area in southern Gaza Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning and a number of shooting attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Wednesday.
The radio report also quoted political sources as saying that the Israeli army will also not ease restrictions on Palestinian population in areas where the ceasefire has not been observed.
The sources said that the army will remain highly alert at certain places after their withdrawal so that they could move in once there is violation of ceasefire.
Israeli army spokesman Ron Kitrey confirmed to Xinhua Thursday that the army has indeed started implementing the ceasefire following an order from Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and " there are some local movements". But he refused to say in which areas the army has relaxed the closure on the Palestinians.
Kitrey said that he had just learned there was a shooting attack on the Tunnel Road between the Jewish neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, which Palestinians call a settlement since it was built on the land Israel grabbed in the 1967 Middle East war, and the opposite Arab village of Beit Jalla.
He said that there were heavy casualties on the Israeli side. He was still checking the incident.
In a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Wednesday night, Sharon said that Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Yasser Arafat's intentions regarding the cease-fire would be judged by results, and not by words.
Meanwhile, chief of Palestinian Preventive Security Service in the West Bank Jibril Rajoub said Thursday morning that the PNA security services will not operate outside of places under full Palestinian control, or Area A.
"The Palestinians are not Israel's insurance company," he said.
Israel and Palestinians Wednesday orally accepted the ceasefire plan brokered by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet at the end of his seven-day mediation in the region. The ceasefire went into effect at 03:00 p.m. (1200GMT) Wednesday following a secret session between Tenet, Israeli and Palestinian security officials in Tel Aviv.
The Palestinians still have some reservations about the plan.
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