Israel continues Gaza strikes as Olmert set to meet Bush

Published May 31st, 2007 - 02:37 GMT

An Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip wounded two Palestinians trying to fire a rocket on Thursday.

 

The Israeli occupation killed two Palestinians and wounded two others Wednesday night in Nablus in the West Bank, the Fatah movement's military arm said. The two Palestinians were traveling in a car in the northern West Bank when they were martyred in an explosion.

 

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades group, linked to Fatah, said the two men were its members.
 
With no sign of an end to the daily clashes, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will travel to Washington in three weeks' time to meet US President George W. Bush, an Israeli government official told AFP. "They will discuss the issues of Iran and the Palestinians," he said. The exact date for the meeting is June 19.

 

Early Thursday, two Palestinian activists from the Popular Resistance Committees were wounded in northern Gaza Strip as they prepared to launch fire a rocket at Israel, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.

 

"We should completely cut ourselves off from the Gaza Strip," Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, told army radio.

 

"Let Egypt provide it with water, electricity and fuel from the Sinai and let the international community, especially the European Union, assume its responsibilities," he said.

 

"The Palestinian Authority is not assuming its (responsibilities) and the Gaza Strip should be declared hostile territory ... the Palestinians must understand that they cannot continue to fire and attack us."