VARIOUS: ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN EXPERTS COMMENT ABOUT NEW CEASEFIRE IN LATEST MIDDLE EAST CRISIS

Record ID: 400288

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN EXPERTS COMMENT ABOUT NEW CEASEFIRE IN LATEST MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
  • Date: 18th September 2001
  • Summary: (W3) JERUSALEM (SEPTEMBER 19, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV AVI PAZNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN WALKING THROUGH OFFICE 0.06 2. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) AVI PAZNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN, SPEAKING IN OFFICE: "In spite of Yasser Arafat's declaration, the ceasefire has not yet taken hold. We have done our share. We have withdrawn
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JENIN, NABLUS AND QALANDYA, WEST BANK/ GAZA/ JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Y7JEO441TCKGQTECOXNTDLWT
  • Story Text: Israel and the Palestinians have honoured a tentative
    ceasefire in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after both sides
    ordered their forces to silence their guns after nearly a year
    of bloodshed.



    Sporadic violence in parts of the West Bank and Gaza
    Strip after the new ceasefire orders on Tuesday (September
    18), underscored the challenges ahead of bringing about a
    permanent truce to stem the conflict in which hundreds of
    people have been killed.

    "In spite of Yasser Arafat's declaration, the ceasefire
    has not yet taken hold. We have done our share. We have
    withdrawn now from all Palestinian (ruled) territory. We have
    cease to launch any offensive against the Palestinians. The
    moment the ceasefire takes hold, there will be further steps,"
    said Avi Pazner, Israeli government spokesman.

    International pressure has mounted for an end to the
    Middle East conflict, which is widely seen as an obstacle to
    U.S. efforts to recruit Arab states for a global
    anti-terrorism alliance after last week's attacks on New York
    and Washington.

    The United States wants Arab and Islamic states to join
    the coalition.

    U.S. President George Bush saw a "glimmer of hope" in the
    Middle East and said it may be a sign something good will come
    from the devastation that struck the World Trade Centre and
    the Pentagon when hijacked aircraft slammed into them last
    week.

    Speaking on Wednesday (September 19), Islamic militant
    groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas said that despite ceasefire
    orders, they would continue to attack Israeli targets in the
    occupied West Bank and Gaza and inside Israel.

    "We are committed to addressing the grievances of our
    people and to confronting and resisting the occupation, to
    protecting the lives of our children, to defending our houses
    and farms. Therefore, as long as the Zionest enemy targets all
    of these, the resistance will continue," Shiekh Abdallah
    al-Shami, Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza strip, told
    reporters.

    Islamic Jihad also criticised Arafat's offer to back what
    the United States calls its global war on terror.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered a halt to
    "initiated actions" by the army after Arafat told Palestinians
    on Tuesday to stop shooting.

    The Palestinian authority called Israel's pullback from
    West Bank towns a positive step and has called for a real
    disengagement between the two sides.

    Palestinian legislator Ziyad Abu Ziyad said that the
    Palestinian Authority was doing its best to halt violence but
    would have difficulty reigning in militants.

    "What is needed is disengagement between Israeli soldiers
    and our people. But what is now existing is that they are
    continuing to harass our people. Go to the checkpoint of
    Qalandya between Jerusalem and Ramallah and see what is
    happening there. Actually, our people did not notice a real
    change in the situation, even after they declared that they
    are pulling back their tanks," he said.

    There were several exchanges of gunfire in the West Bank
    and Gaza Strip overnight, and Israeli officials said
    Palestinians threw 10 grenades at an Israeli army outpost near
    the Egyptian border early on Wednesday.

    Adding to the tense atmosphere, a Palestinian policeman
    wounded in an Israeli helicopter strike in the West Bank last
    Thursday, before the latest peace moves, died of his injuries
    on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.



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