WEST BANK/JERUSALEM/GAZA/CHINA: PALESTINIAN GUNMEN HAVE SHOT DEAD AN ISRAELI WOMAN / PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ARAFAT STILL HOPES TO ATTEND THE ARAB SUMMIT IN BEIRUT

Record ID: 250088

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM/GAZA/CHINA: PALESTINIAN GUNMEN HAVE SHOT DEAD AN ISRAELI WOMAN / PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ARAFAT STILL HOPES TO ATTEND THE ARAB SUMMIT IN BEIRUT
  • Date: 23rd March 2002
  • Summary: (W3) ATERET, WEST BANK (MARCH 24, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV ISRAELI SOLDIER LOOKING OUT OF BINOCULARS SEARCHING AREA WHERE PALESTINIAN GUNMEN AMBUSHED AN ISRAELI BUS, KILLING A WOMAN 0.04 2. SV ISRAELI AMBULANCE ARRIVING AT SCENE 0.13 3. SLV ISRAELI SOLDIER SEARCHING AREA 0.25 4. MCU ISRAELI SOLDIER STANDING NEXT TO ASSAULT
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATERET, NABLUS AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM/RAFAH, GAZA/ BEIJING, CHINA
  • City:
  • Country: Gaza Gaza Gaza West Bank West Bank Jerusalem Jerusalem China
  • Reuters ID: LVA8PX3HFDKPM0R9MCOY8DUIO18Z
  • Story Text: Palestinian gunmen have shot dead an Israeli woman in
    an ambush near a settlement in the West Bank.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suggested that he
    attend the Arab summit in Beirut himself to present Israel's
    views on a Saudi peace plan for the Middle East.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has said there's
    still a chance that an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire may be
    declared -- which could pave the way for Palestinian President
    Arafat to attend the Arab summit in Beirut.

    And a funeral has been held in the West Bank for a
    Palestinian suicide bomber who blew himself up and injured an
    Israeli soldier on Friday.



    In the latest violence, Palestinian gunmen shot dead an
    Israeli woman during an ambush of an Israeli bus near a Jewish
    settlement in the northern West Bank early on Sunday (March
    24).

    The woman had been on her way to her job as a kindergarten
    teacher at a Jewish settlement when the gunmen ambushed the
    bus.

    The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to
    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed
    responsibility for the attack.

    The violence overshadows U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni's
    intention
    to resume ceasefire talks with senior Israeli and Palestinian
    security officials later on Sunday to clinch a Middle East
    truce ahead of a key Arab summit in Beirut later this week.

    At a meeting of the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday, Prime
    Minister Ariel Sharon said he had told U.S. Vice President
    Dick Cheney that he would like to attend the Beirut summit so
    that he could represent Israel's position on a Saudi plan for
    an Arab-Israeli peace deal.

    However, it is unlikely that Sharon would be a welcome
    visitor to the
    Lebanese capital, where he is despised for commanding Israel's
    1982 invasion of Lebanon.

    Both Palestinians and Israelis agree that Sunday's
    trilateral ceasefire talks are crucial, because an agreement
    may open the way for Arafat to meet Cheney ahead of the Arab
    summit.

    "I think there is still a fair chance [of a ceasefire]
    and today may be the deciding day because of the meeting
    and I hope we shall reach an agreement," said Israeli Foreign
    Minister Shimon Peres said in Beijing.

    Peres is in the Chinese capital to discuss middle east
    peace and a collapsed radar sale with the Chinese.

    Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rdaineh said the Palestinians
    still haven't given up hopes of a meeting between Arafat and
    Cheney.

    "Well, first of all we are ready for such a meeting if the
    vice president is ready, but so far there are no arrangements
    for such a meeting," Rdaineh said.

    He added: "We hope that the Americans would make up their
    mind quickly and before the summit because this is for the
    benefit of
    everybody, especially for the benefit of the peace process and
    for the benefit of the Saudi initiative because we are hoping
    that this initiative would become an Arab initiative. The
    presence of President Arafat at the Arab summit is very
    important and this decision is a crucial decision and this
    would
    be decided in the coming 24 hours."
    But feelings continue to run high ahead of the
    U.S.-brokered talks.

    In Nablus, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
    Palestine displayed pictures and dolls of Sharon and Zinni at
    an exhibition at the Najah university on the
    Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Also in Nablus, hundreds of Palestinians marched on Sunday
    in the funeral of a suicide bomber who wounded one Israeli
    soldier when he detonated his charge when stopped in a taxi on
    the Israeli border on Friday (March 22). Marchers ducked as
    gunmen fired above their heads.

    The bloodshed, which has peaked in recent weeks, has
    killed
    at least 1,095 Palestinians and 356 Israelis since a
    Palestinian
    uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000
    after peace talks foundered.


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