Israel has agreed to further ease restrictions on Arab residents of Gaza and Bethlehem. Despite the fact that Arabs continue to attack Jews in Gaza on a daily basis - one of yesterday's attacks featured a mortar shell at a Jewish home in Gush Katif, causing damage but no casualties - Gazan Arabs will once again be allowed to travel throughout Gaza. The number of Arab laborers allowed to enter pre-1967 Israel will also be increased.
In Bethlehem, merchants, businessmen and clergymen will be allowed to enter pre-1967 Israel, and teachers will be allowed to travel to nearby neighborhoods for work. IDF Central Command officials, who represented Israel at a meeting last night with PA officials, explained afterwards that there had been relative quiet in the area since the PA assumed security control of the town. Israeli officials promise additional lifting of restrictions should the situation remain calm.
A terrorist with a gun was arrested at the Peirot Junction outside Kalkilye late this morning. Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that the arrest by IDF soldiers on the scene thwarted his apparent plan to fire at Israeli cars... Two or three Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorists were captured near Ramallah this afternoon… A soldier was lightly hurt in a firebomb attack in Shechem… A bomb was found outside Shaarei Tikvah and safely detonated...
HaTzofeh editorialized today that the “Gaza First” plan is getting nowhere fast because, “While the Palestinians are ready for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories, they are far from committing themselves to an absolute cease-fire... The Prime Minister was right when he said... that no tangible progress should be expected in the talks until after the holidays.” The editors believe that Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer is reaching the same conclusion, despite his public statements to the contrary.
In Bethlehem, merchants, businessmen and clergymen will be allowed to enter pre-1967 Israel, and teachers will be allowed to travel to nearby neighborhoods for work. IDF Central Command officials, who represented Israel at a meeting last night with PA officials, explained afterwards that there had been relative quiet in the area since the PA assumed security control of the town. Israeli officials promise additional lifting of restrictions should the situation remain calm.
A terrorist with a gun was arrested at the Peirot Junction outside Kalkilye late this morning. Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that the arrest by IDF soldiers on the scene thwarted his apparent plan to fire at Israeli cars... Two or three Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorists were captured near Ramallah this afternoon… A soldier was lightly hurt in a firebomb attack in Shechem… A bomb was found outside Shaarei Tikvah and safely detonated...
HaTzofeh editorialized today that the “Gaza First” plan is getting nowhere fast because, “While the Palestinians are ready for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories, they are far from committing themselves to an absolute cease-fire... The Prime Minister was right when he said... that no tangible progress should be expected in the talks until after the holidays.” The editors believe that Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer is reaching the same conclusion, despite his public statements to the contrary.