The Hindu : Israel pulls out from one refugee camp

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 03, 2002

International

International

Israel pulls out from one refugee camp

JERUSALEM March. 2. Israeli troops today withdrew from one of two West Bank refugee camps in which they have been carrying out a deadly sweep for suspected militants amid a growing international outcry.

The pullout from Jenin camp came hours after the Palestinian Authority announced suspension of contacts with Israel in response to the incursions, in which 19 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers have died since they began on Thursday. According to security sources on both sides, fighting had stopped overnight, and Palestinian security sources said militants had pulled out of the camp by dawn. But violence continued in the northern Gaza Strip, with medical sources saying yesterday that Israeli soldiers had shot and killed a Palestinian overnight.

When asked to confirm the army pullout, a spokesman said only that troops had "completed the first stage in their activity in the Jenin refugee camp." Witnesses said Israeli forces still controlled access to the camp. Six Palestinians and another soldier were killed in the army's parallel operation in the Nablus refugee camp of Balata, which was continuing today.

"There will be no contacts, neither security nor political ones as long as the destructive Israeli aggression continues against our camps," the Palestinian Cabinet secretary, Ahmad Abdel Rahman said on Friday. He added that there were "no security or political contacts with the Government" of the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, "which invades our camps and cities and imposes a blockade, killing our children."

Meanwhile, the United States has again praised the ideas for West Asia peace floated by Saudi Arabia but characterised them as "not a peace plan or specific proposal to end the violence."

The State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher yesterday said the Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, William Burns, who went to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, had good discussions with Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdul Aziz on the issue. But, he said "the next steps...mean maximum efforts by the Palestinian Authority to confront violence and terror, and steps by the Israeli Government to facilitate Palestinian efforts on security and help promote a more positive environment on the ground."

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Abdullah suggested that Arab countries could normalise relations with Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from occupied lands. Mr. Boucher again praised the ideas, calling them "significant." — AFP

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