WEST BANK: PALESTINIAN LEADERS CONDEMN ISRAELI TROOPS RAID ON NABLUS AS AN ATTACK ON THE PEACE PROCESS

Record ID: 400182

  • Title: WEST BANK: PALESTINIAN LEADERS CONDEMN ISRAELI TROOPS RAID ON NABLUS AS AN ATTACK ON THE PEACE PROCESS
  • Date: 9th August 2003
  • Summary: (W4) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (AUGUST 9, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV: PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF CABINET AFFAIRS, YASSER ABED RABBO, ENTERING HALL IN PALESTINE MEDIA CENTRE IN RAMALLAH 0.13 2. WIDE VIEW OF JOURNALISTS LISTENING 0.18 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN MINISTER OF CABINET AFFAIRS, YASSER ABED RABBO, SAYING: "We believe that the inte
  • Embargoed: 24th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JENIN AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA9HORG9M2DO01IG16OAATEZIJS
  • Story Text: Palestinian ministers have condemned Israeli troops'
    raid on Nablus as an attack on the peace process that will
    damage the ceasefire.


    Palestinian Cabinet Affairs Minister Yasser Abed
    Rabbo reacted to Friday (August 8) morning's raid in the
    West Bank town of Nablus in which two Hamas militants and
    one Israeli soldier were killed. Abed Rabbo said on
    Saturday (August 9) that the raid had seriously jeopardised
    the peace process.

    "We think that the Israeli government is trying to
    undermine the road map. The Israeli government does not
    want this plan to be implemented and they believe that
    through belittling confrontation they can convince the
    world to forget about the road map and that they can return
    back to the situation before the declaration of the road
    map," Abed Rabbo said.

    He also called on the United States to intervene.

    Rabbo said: "For this purpose we believe it is the
    duty of the American administration at first to intervene
    in order to put an end to these policies that are being
    adopted and implemented by the Israeli government."
    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, side-lined by
    Israel and the United States from taking part in peace
    negotiations, echoed Abed Rabbo's comments on Saturday,
    calling the Nablus raid an attack on the peace process.

    "Israel didn't just break the truce, it has blown up
    the entire peace process. What happened at Jenin, Khan
    Younis, Rafah and many other places -- it i a huge blow to
    the whole peace process," Arafat said.

    Arafat was meeting a visiting German delegation at his
    battered compound in Ramallah.

    The Israeli army raid on Askar refugee camp in Nablus
    rocked a fragile month-old ceasefire and drew vows of
    revenge from Hamas leaders.

    Hamas's military wing identified its dead as Fayez
    Assader, 26, commander in the Nablus area, and Khamis Abu
    Salem, 22.

    Medics in Nablus said two other Palestinians died in
    protests following the raid -- a man, aged 20, who was shot
    dead after throwing stones at troops and a
    forty-one-year-old bystander who died after inhaling
    teargas sprayed by soldiers dispersing rioters.

    Senior Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
    told Reuters that Hamas would react to the Nablus incursion
    but said it stood by a three-month truce declared on June
    29 in keeping with a U.S.-backed Middle East peace plan.

    During Saturday's funeral procession, three of the
    bodies were carried through the streets, while the mourners
    chanted slogans and waved Palestinian flags.




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