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Monday, March 21, 2005

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  The developments reflected the fragile state of Israeli-Palestinian relations as the sides attempt to put more than four years of violence behind them. Last week, Palestinian militants declared a cease-fire, extending an informal truce reached by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Feb. 8.

Israel has said the cease-fire will be tenuous without Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas moving quickly to disarm the militants - a step he has rejected - while Palestinians demand an immediate end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.

In the first of Sunday's violent incidents, three Israeli soldiers were wounded, one critically, in the al-Omri refugee camp near Ramallah, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire while the troops were escorting Israeli police searching for stolen cars, an Israeli military spokeswoman said. One policeman was lightly wounded, she said.

The spokeswoman said the timing of the attack indicated it had been carried out by militants. She said the force was fired on at the outset of the operation, rather than after it got underway, reducing the possibility that it was criminals responding to the police search, she said.

However, there was no claim of responsibility on the Palestinian side, indicating that criminals might be behind the shooting.

Palestinian Shot

Several hours later, a Palestinian man was shot and critically wounded by an Israeli border policeman in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Border Police spokesman Oren Goanias said the Palestinian had attempted to steal a weapon from a border policeman conducting a routine patrol near a checkpoint leading to Jerusalem.

The report on new building in Israel's West Bank settlements said aerial photographs carried out for the Defense Ministry showed that between the summer of 2004 and early 2005 there had been major settlement construction, including in the large settlements of Maale Adumim, Ariel and the Gush Etzion bloc.

The internationally backed "road map" peace plan calls for a freeze on settlement construction, including that resulting from natural population growth. Israel and the Palestinians accepted the plan in 2003 but its implementation has stalled amid violations by the sides.

The report, which appeared in the Haaretz daily, said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had ordered the photography operation following a complaint by former chief state prosecutor Talia Sasson that without detailed aerial photographs she would have difficulty completing a report on unauthorized Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank.

Sasson's report was published earlier this month. It said Israeli governments have helped build and expand 105 illegal West Bank settlement outposts in a flagrant violation of official policy and promises to the United States - confirming long-standing complaints by the Palestinians.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv said the United States expected Israel to abide by its road map commitments.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the photos revealed "no secrets," adding that any disagreements over settlement construction are being discussed with the Americans.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said the construction threatens efforts to revive peace talks.

"Everywhere we go in the West Bank we see settlement construction that undermines all the efforts being exerted to revive the hope in the minds of Palestinians that the peace is durable," he said.

© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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