In less than 24 hours since late Saturday, Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In the latest incident, Israeli soldiers operating in a Palestinian refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border shot and killed a Palestinian activist who tried to plant a bomb in the area.
Earlier, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops in the Rafah refugee camp, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli soldiers, backed by tanks and Apache helicopters invaded the refugee camp in order to arrest Ashraf Adnan Abu Libdah.
According to reports, the troops stormed the Al Salam neighborhood of the Rafah camp, cordoned off Abu Libdah's house and then shot him dead after he tried to escape from a window of the building in which he was hiding, the army said.
His father, Adnan Abu Libda was wounded after being shot by the Israeli forces, Palestinian medical sources said.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesperson said two Palestinians were shot dead overnight Sunday near Rafah, along the Gaza Strip-Egyptian border.
Meanwhile, Palestinian premier Ahmed Qurei said that he hoped to hold his first meeting with his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon by the end of this month.
"I believe that there will be a meeting with Sharon before the end of February," Qurei told reporters after talks with Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.
According to AFP, he said the head of his office Hassan Abu Libdeh and top negotiator Saeb Erakat would meet Sharon aide Dov Weisglass on February 15 to prepare for the summit.
During a first round of preparatory talks in Jerusalem last week, "all the questions on the (meeting's) agenda were examined, but we did not reach agreement on all the points," Qurei conveyed.
When asked to comment on Sharon's statement to evacuate settlements in Gaza Strip while at the same time ordering more raids there, Qurei replied that "such is the Israeli policy".
"We want to be ready to deal with incursions in Gaza...and at the same time fulfil our commitments if the evacuation takes place." (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
