\"Yasser Arafat has not stopped terrorism for even a minute.\" This was the message that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last night on the phone. Powell initiated the call to discuss events in the region. Powell also updated Sharon on the war in Afghanistan and congratulated him on receiving an honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University. Prime Minister Sharon is slated to visit Washington early next month.
Arabs fired two mortar shells on Jewish homes along Israel’s southern Mediterranean coast last night. Rachel Asraf, a mother of 7 children, told Arutz-7 that she was reading in bed when, “I suddenly heard a shell launched, and a few seconds later the loud boom. Our ears are trained already to tell how far away the shells fall. This one landed very close by. I woke up my husband, and darted out to see what happened.” There were no injuries. Early this evening, yet another mortar shell was fired, and Arabs shot at an IDF position near Netzarim; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers returned fire.
In the same area this morning, an IDF patrol discovered a bomb and safely dismantled it. Arabs shot and injured two people near Tul Karem, just east of Netanya. Yesterday, a force of reserve soldiers thwarted a terrorist attack at the Kisufim checkpoint leading to Gush Katif. The force spotted a terrorist squad approaching the road, and shot at them. The would-be killers managed to escape.
Israeli civilians in Nokdim and Tekoa - south of Jerusalem, east of Gush Etzion - blocked their access road to Arab traffic this morning, fro the second day in a row. The army closed the road to Arabs two months ago following the murder of local resident Sarit Amrani there, but received a government order to re-open it in honor of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan. The residents say that the decision is a dangerous one and that more drive-by shootings may be expected.
Arabs fired two mortar shells on Jewish homes along Israel’s southern Mediterranean coast last night. Rachel Asraf, a mother of 7 children, told Arutz-7 that she was reading in bed when, “I suddenly heard a shell launched, and a few seconds later the loud boom. Our ears are trained already to tell how far away the shells fall. This one landed very close by. I woke up my husband, and darted out to see what happened.” There were no injuries. Early this evening, yet another mortar shell was fired, and Arabs shot at an IDF position near Netzarim; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers returned fire.
In the same area this morning, an IDF patrol discovered a bomb and safely dismantled it. Arabs shot and injured two people near Tul Karem, just east of Netanya. Yesterday, a force of reserve soldiers thwarted a terrorist attack at the Kisufim checkpoint leading to Gush Katif. The force spotted a terrorist squad approaching the road, and shot at them. The would-be killers managed to escape.
Israeli civilians in Nokdim and Tekoa - south of Jerusalem, east of Gush Etzion - blocked their access road to Arab traffic this morning, fro the second day in a row. The army closed the road to Arabs two months ago following the murder of local resident Sarit Amrani there, but received a government order to re-open it in honor of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan. The residents say that the decision is a dangerous one and that more drive-by shootings may be expected.