Israeli Ministers shifted from homes

JERUSALEM, NOV. 9. Two Israeli Cabinet Ministers and their families have left their homes after security services told them of plans by Palestinian militants to attack them, officials said on Friday.

The precautions followed the Oct. 17 assassination of the Tourism Minister, Rehavam Zeevi, by militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in revenge for Israel's killing of the PFLP leader, Mustafa Zibri.

In violence on Friday, Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli vehicle in the West Bank, killing an Israeli woman, settlers and the military said. The attack took place near the Palestinian town of Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank, the military said. The car overturned after it was hit by bullets.

The Minister without portfolio, Mr. Dan Naveh, his wife and two small children left their recently completed home in the village of Shoham in central Israel, said a neighbour, the Member of Parliament, Mr. Mossi Raz. Shoham is a new community near Israel's international airport and 5 km from the West Bank.

Media reports said the Health Minister, Mr. Nissim Dahan, was told to leave his house on weekends, because of intelligence about a possible attack. He lives in Hashmonaim, an Israeli settlement just inside the West Bank. Security experts said the precautions were almost unprecedented. Several months ago, the Cabinet Minister, Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, who lives in a West Bank settlement, was spirited out in a military helicopter after intelligence reports that he was about to be attacked.

Mr. Gideon Ezra, a Member of Parliament and former deputy head of the Shin Bet, said asking Mr. Naveh and his family to leave their home was ``an unusual occurrence.''

Meanwhile, roadblocks remained in place near cities in Israel's north, close to the West Bank, though police foiled an apparent suicide bombing early on Thursday. Police would not comment about the alert, but Israel Radio said security services had intelligence reports about a suicide bomber about to leave the Palestinian town of Jenin, at the northern end of the West Bank.

Israeli forces still hold parts of Jenin and nearby Tulkarem, two of six West Bank towns Israel seized after the Zeevi assassination. Over the past week, Israeli troops have pulled out of four towns. However, the withdrawal from Jenin and Tulkarem was apparently being delayed because of intelligence reports about possible attacks.

Telegraph reports:

The United States was putting the final touches on a limited West Asia peace initiative after the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, and the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, held a long one-to-one council of war to discuss military and diplomatic strategy. U.S. officials said the peace plan, the first by the Bush administration after the failure of the intense mediation effort by the former President, Mr. Bill Clinton, could be unveiled in the coming days by the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell.

But in a sign that the details and timing are still under review, Ms Condoleeza Rice, the U.S. National Security Advisor, warned the Palestinian leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat, that he was not doing enough to halt violence.

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Section  : International
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