Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat blamed Monday Israel for a blast which killed five activists in the southern Gaza Strip.
The five, members of Naif Hawatme's Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) armed wing, were killed when their car exploded in the Gaza Strip.
"What happened in Gaza shows that the (Israeli) government doesn't want calm but wants an escalation against the Palestinian people, but nobody will break these people," Arafat told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
The blast, which occurred early Monday on a road near Khan Yunis, ripped apart the car carrying the five Palestinians.
According to the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz, the blast was part of an operation carried out by Israel. However, the Israeli army is refusing to officially comment on the incident.
Major Khaled Abu al-Ula, a senior Palestinian security official, said an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at the car. An Israeli security source said it was booby-trapped.
One of those killed in the blast was Ayman Bahrderi, a member of DFLP, who was involved in the attack at the Marganit base in the Gaza Strip last year in which three Israeli soldiers were killed.
Hamas
The Islamic Resistance movement Hamas strongly denounced an article written by Arafat condemning operations by "terrorist" groups against Israeli civilians.
Hamas accused the Palestinian leader of wanting to appease Israel and the United States.
"Hamas believes President Arafat has made a mistake and failed our people by describing as 'terrorists' the Palestinian fighters and martyrs, and their heroic operations as 'terrorist,'" an unnamed senior official of the group told .
It charged that Arafat was using "Israeli logic and bowing to the demands of the United States, saying that he was "begging favours" from them.
The Palestinian leader, in his article published Sunday in the New York Times, condemned the attacks "carried out by terrorist groups against Israeli civilians."
He stressed that those groups "do not represent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations for freedom," but are "terrorist organizations, and I am determined to put an end to their activities."
U.S.-PA Talks
Meanwhile, Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State met in Washington with a top Palestinian official and repeated US demands to crack down on anti-Israeli activities.
Powell's 45-minute meeting with Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei (Abu Ala) was the most senior face-to-face contact between the two sides in months and comes as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepares to visit Washington to meet President George W. Bush on Thursday.
"The secretary took the opportunity to underscore what we have been saying publicly as well as directly: that there is no question that Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have the responsibility right now to take strong, resolute and irreversible action to halt the violence and terror," said deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker.
"We believe their focus must remain on this critical objective and the Palestinian Authority as well as Chairman Arafat know what needs to be done," he told reporters. "They have to take steps now."
Following the meeting, Qorei said the talks had been wide-ranging. "We talked about everything," Qorei told reporters after meeting at the State Department. "What's on the ground, what's in the future and how to overcome all the problems and obstacles (in the way of) negotiations." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
