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Sharon Vows Continued Strikes Against Militants
Voice of America
VOA News
15 Jun 2003, 13:45 UTC
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is vowing to continue attacks on militants suspected of suicide bombings.
Mr. Sharon told his weekly cabinet meeting Sunday that Israel will destroy the terrorist infrastructure if the Palestinians do not.
He spoke after a week of deadly attacks by both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants that killed at least 60 people. The violence continued early Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip, where Palestinians said Israeli troops shot dead a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - a militant group affiliated with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Israel's Peace Now movement Sunday said Jewish settlers have set up five new outposts in the West Bank since Israel began dismantling such sites under an internationally-backed peace roadmap. Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity, said only one of the new outposts is inhabited.
Meanwhile, Israeli army radio reported the military is preparing to pull out of the northern Gaza Strip, and turn over security to Palestinian authorities.
The report follows talks late Saturday between Israeli and Palestinian security officials about how to revive the Middle East peace process.
Veteran U.S. diplomat John Wolf arrived in Jerusalem late Saturday. He arrived with the first members of a team of American monitors who will try to help Israelis and Palestinians stop the violence and meet their obligations under the internationally-backed "road map" to peace. Mr. Wolf is to hold separate talks with leaders of both sides in the coming days.
Another diplomatic effort also got under way today with the arrival of a delegation of Egyptian security and political officials in Gaza to meet with various Palestinian factions that do not agree with the peace plan.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP.
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