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Israel Rejects US Call for "Immediate" Withdrawal from Palestinian Towns
Israel Monday rejected the call from the United States to pull out immediately its forces from the Palestinian-controlled West Bank towns it has occupied in the past few days.
"The government of Israel has told us that it does not intend to remain in those areas. Israeli defense forces should be withdrawn immediately from all Palestinian-controlled areas and no further such incursions should be made," US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said at a daily briefing.
Israel's Channel One TV reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was surprised by the announcement.
The website of Israel's leading newspaper Ha'aretz quoted a senior diplomatic source as saying that Israel has rejected the US demand and that "we will leave only when the goals of the operation are achieved, and our only priority is security."
The US spokesman also called on the Palestinian National Authority to "do all in its power to halt violence and terror and bring to justice the terrorists whose actions are betraying Palestinian interests."
Earlier Monday, Sharon reasserted his demands that the PNA ensure "the complete cessation of terrorism", disband "terrorist" organizations and extradite the assassins of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi and those who dispatched them.
In another development on Monday evening, thousands of Israeli rightist demonstrators gathered at the Zion Square in Jerusalem, urging the government to take harder stance against the Palestinians.
Israel sent its troops into six Palestinian towns after Ze'evi's killing on Wednesday by extremist Palestinians. Nearly 30 Palestinians have been killed ever since and a number of Palestinian installations destroyed.
The Palestinians are calling for international intervention in the Israeli invasions and, particularly, urging the United States to pressure Israel to pull out of its forces.
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