to be honest US news total pablum and don't get enough of BBC so I just checked pakistani press for recent news. Is this wishful muslim thinking that Sharon's government is on shakey legs.
dawn.com
3 Palestinians killed in fresh violence
NABLUS, Oct 1: Three Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in renewed violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and the Israeli army maintained a low-key presence around Yasser Arafat's office , keeping the Palestinian leader in close check.
The deaths came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in Moscow with hopes of rekindling his political momentum before returning home to face the fallout from his humiliating Ramallah siege fiasco and Labour party threats to withdraw from his coalition government.
On Monday, the Israeli army cracked down on Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus defying the daily curfew, sparking fierce clashes which left two Palestinian children and an Israeli soldier dead. Ten Palestinians were also injured.
The army continued its sweep for wanted militants in the West Bank all night, arresting more than 50 people, Palestinian security officials said.
In Gaza City, a Palestinian man working as a night watchman on a farm was hit by Israeli bullets as two tanks backed by a helicopter and a bulldozer rolled into the eastern Al-Shujayiah district, Palestinian medics said.
The situation remained volatile in Ramallah as Israeli guns were again pointed at Arafat's office, two days after the Israelis ended a 10-day siege on the veteran leader's compound.
Speaking from inside the crumbling building which was besieged for 10 days, Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said Israeli troops had occupied two Palestinian houses in front of the Muqataa compound and were pointing their guns out of the windows towards Arafat's offices.
On the streets, only a few army jeeps were visible in the vicinity of the wrecked headquarters.
Israel was struggling to save face two days after US pressure forced the army to pull out from the battered compound, letting the 73-year-old Arafat emerge triumphant from yet another siege.
Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer admitted on Tuesday that the tanks had only withdrawn to please the United States and remove an obstacle in Washington's preparations for a war against Iraq.
"We left the Muqataa because the United States, our most important ally thought our continued presence (there) was becoming the main obstacle to its goal (of disarming Iraq) which is also in our interest," he told public radio.
The Israeli press described the siege and its abrupt end as a farce, as Israel took its usual hard line and then buckled without achieving its stated goals, which some commentators saw as a dangerous sign of weakness.
SHARON'S ANGER: From Moscow, where Sharon has been on an official visit since Sunday, the right-wing Israeli leader telephoned Ben Eliezer to express his "anger" that some of the wanted Palestinians who had been trapped inside Arafat's compound had managed to escape, the Israeli daily Maariv said.
The Maariv daily also reported that Sharon was holding "secret talks" with unnamed Palestinian officials through his former Mossad intelligence chief, Ephraim Halevy, who now heads the National Security Council.
During talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sharon defended the Ramallah siege and insisted Israel should "continue the isolation of Arafat".
Sharon was facing further complications after two major challengers to Ben Eliezer for the Labour party leadership called for a withdrawal from the national unity government.
"It is possible and right to fight terror but we have to get out of the government to save this country, to save the party," said Amram Mitzna during a tense day-long congress.
Haim Ramon, for his part, argued Labour no longer had any influence in Sharon's government and had lost the respect of the electorate.-AFP |
