About 3,000 Palestinians attacked a Palestinian Authority police station in the West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday to protest the arrest of an Islamic Jihad leader, casting a shadow on statements by US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Mideast peace, said reports.
Islamic Jihad leaders said Palestinian police pulled Mahmoud Tawalbi off a Jenin street on Wednesday and jailed him in Nablus, 15 miles to the south, according to AP, which said the 23-year-old was suspected by Israel of recruiting suicide bombers.
Israel has demanded Arafat order the arrest of resistance leaders, and the US State Department has also pressured Palestinian President Yasser Arafat with the same intent.
However, the BBC Online reported that 3,000 Palestinians attacked a Palestinian police station in Jenin in protest at the arrest, and that police inside the station exchanged gunfire with the demonstrators as unarmed protesters pelted the building with stones.
Although the protesters set fire to parts of the building and three grenades reportedly hit the station, the BBC reported no injuries.
The BBC identified Tawalbi as the head of the Jenin branch of the Al Quds (Jerusalem) Brigades, and implied that demonstrators were trying to enter the building in search of him.
In other fighting, a Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip was wounded by Israeli gunfire, witnesses told Reuters, while the Israeli army said a soldier was wounded in a mortar attack in Gaza.
In Jerusalem, a bomb exploded in a garbage bin and two municipal street cleaners were slightly hurt, the agency cited police as saying.
Meanwhile, about 3,000 Palestinians marched in Gaza City to demand that the international community help them achieve statehood, the goal of Palestinians' revolt against Israeli occupation.
The BBC's correspondent said there were strong feelings among Palestinians that their authorities should not be arresting militants at a time when towns like Jenin have been reoccupied by Israeli forces.
Israel invaded six Palestinian-governed towns a month ago, after the killing of cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi by militants taking revenge for the assassination of their own leader.
It has since left four areas where it has reached an agreement with local security leaders to maintain calm, but the Israeli troops and tanks remain in force around the towns of Jenin and Tulkarem, added the news service.
Over 700 Palestinians and more than 190 Israelis have been killed in the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation, according to news agencies.
US-RUSSIAN PROCLAMATIONS IN SHADOW OF NEW FIGHTING
Israel and the Palestinians hailed on Wednesday a new commitment by Bush and Putin to ending 13 months of Middle East conflict and reviving peace talks, said reports.
Bush and Putin said after talks in Washington on Tuesday that "acting in concert with other key parties," they were stepping up their Middle East peace efforts, said the agency.
A high-level European Union delegation is due to visit the Middle East on Thursday, noted Reuters.
But as fighting continued in the streets, the agency reported that Israeli and Palestinian officials traded new charges over who is to blame for the conflict.
Despite the ongoing clashes, there were signs of progress on the diplomatic front.
The fighting in Jenin came as US Secretary of State Colin Powell scheduled a key Middle East policy speech for next week, according to AP, which analysts say is being anxiously awaited by both sides.
The agency quoted an Israeli peace campaigner and a Palestinian spokeswoman as saying that the US no longer backed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's demand for seven days of complete calm before peace talks resume.
Sharon took office promising to achieve security for the average Israeli within a short period of time, but has since told his Likud Party inner circle to be ready for a long conflict - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
