The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for Monday attack on “Zionist settlers,” in south Jerusalem.
In a statement faxed to Albawaba.com, the group said that Youssef Mahmoud Ayesh (33), a member of its military wing, Jerusalem Brigades – special units, injured four Israelis, two of whom seriously. Ayesh was killed when an Israeli soldier returned fire.
It added that the attack came “in revenge for the martyrs of Bethlehem and the rest of the cities,” under Israel military siege since Thursday.
The operation took place in the Talpiot suburb.
Earlier on Monday, a Palestinian policeman died in Bethlehem of wounds sustained in fierce weekend gun battles with Israeli tanks and troops, who invaded several West Bank areas following the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister.
Nidal Taleb Elayan, 19, died after being shot in the head on Saturday, said a hospital official in Beit Jala, a town on the edge of Bethlehem, said AFP.
Meanwhile, the US praised a decision by the Palestinian Authority to outlaw the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday he was pleased that the Palestinian Authority had outlawed the PFLP.
"That is a good move," Powell said of Sunday's decision, made after the PFLP claimed responsibility for the murder last week of an Israeli cabinet minister.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat "has given instructions to his various organizations to implement a ceasefire and if they don't follow his instructions or violate them, that's a challenge to his authority," he said.
"I am glad to see that he is responding to that challenge," Powell told reporters accompanying him back to Washington from Shanghai.
The secretary noted that he had spoken on Sunday with both Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, and top EU diplomat Javier Solana.
In each conversation, Powell urged that immediate steps be taking to calm tensions that erupted last Wednesday when Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi was assassinated in what the PFLP called retaliation for Israel's killing of its leader this fall.
Israel has demanded that Arafat find, arrest and hand over those responsible for killing Zeevi, or face the consequences.
In a statement published in Gaza City, the Palestinian high council on national security declared as "outlaw, any group which, in the name of Abu Ali Mustafa, carried out suspect actions which harmed the supreme interest of our people and gave Israel the opportunity to intensify its repression of our people."
The armed wing of the PFLP claimed the October 17 assassination of Zeevi, who headed an Israeli far-right party, in revenge for the August slaying of their leader Abu Ali Mustafa. The armed wing had by then taken on the name Martyrs of Abu Ali Mustafa.
The council, which groups the heads of the various Palestinian security services, met Sunday night in Gaza City and was chaired by Arafat.
In the statement, the council deplored that "these suspect actions gave Israel a pretext to step up its escalation and carry out its aggressive plans against our towns, villages and refugee camps," in reference to the Israeli's army re-occupation of autonomous Palestinian sectors in several West Bank cities.
Since Zeevi's assassination last Wednesday, Israel has sent its tanks into six autonomous Palestinian towns, killing at least 24 Palestinians, in what have been among the most violent days of the year-old uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation.
The scale of these incursions is unprecedented since the Palestinian Authority was set up in 1994.
In response, the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, denounced the declaration in a statement faxed to Al Jazeera satellite channel, accusing the PA of “cowardice.”
And Abu Ahmad Fuad, PFLP politburo member, said in a statement faxed to Albawaba.com that the security council’s resolutions are not binding as far as the Palestinian parties are concerned, since the body is not part of PLO’s institutions.
He added on behalf his group that the council is a “product of the Oslo agreements with the enemy,” and so the PFLP and other parties are not committed to its decisions.
The resistance movement criticized the Palestinian leadership for outlawing the military wings of the Palestinian groups, and bowing to pressure from Israel and the US.
The Palestinian Authority has pledged to arrest those responsible for the assassination of the cabinet minister, but has already ruled out an extradition, arguing that such a move was not provided for in the accords it has with Israel and that the culprits are not under its jurisdiction.
Khader Abu Abbara, the main suspect in the assassination of Zeevi, told the UK-based Guardian newspaper that 20 of his comrades had been arrested so far.
"This group is outside the law. The police are hunting all of the group's members, and we have arrested eight of the political leaders in Gaza, three in Ramallah," an official told AFP.
ARAFAT TO MEET WITH ENVOYS
Arafat was to hold an emergency meeting Monday with envoys from the United Nations, Russia and the European Union, plus the US consul in east Jerusalem, UN envoy to the Middle East Terje Roed-Larsen told AFP.
"It emphasizes the seriousness of the situation," Roed-Larsen said.
Russian envoy Andrei Vdovin, the EU's Miguel Moratinos, Roed-Larsen and US consul Ronald Schlichler will see Arafat at 11:00 a.m. (0900 GMT) and issue a statement later in the day, Roed-Larsen added.
ISRAEL CLAIMS NO INTEREST IN ARAFAT'S END
Israel does not want to cause the downfall of Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said in a speech in Washington late Sunday.
"We don't want him to fall. This is not our purpose," said Peres in an address before the American Jewish Congress.
"We don't have any intention to destroy their autonomy," he added. "We prefer to see life in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip flowing easily."
But the Israeli foreign minister said his country wanted the Palestinian leader to establish firm control over arms and the use of weapons in territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Peres reiterated Israel's demand for the surrender of Palestinians responsible for last week's assassination of Zeevi.
KILLING OF CHRISTIAN ATTRACTS WORLD ATTENTION
The killing of Johnny Thalgieh, a Palestinian “altar boy who hoped to become a priest,” near the Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, was the topic of a feature by the Washington Post.
He was struck in the chest Saturday by a large-caliber bullet, apparently fired from an Israeli position on a ridge a half-mile away with a clear line of sight into Manger Square.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II said today he had received "with deep sadness" the news of Johnny Thalgieh's death and the fighting in Bethlehem and surrounding towns. "War and death arrived even on the square of the Basilica of the Nativity of Our Lord," the pope said during his noon prayer inside St. Peter's Basilica.
"We always felt safe on Manger Square," said Johnny’s cousin, Elias, 36, a tile layer. "I always took my child there. But it's not as safe as we thought. I think the Israelis just want to kill as many people as possible. Now we feel there is no safe place - not at church, not at home and nowhere else." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
