News, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
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Israeli Army Closes Palestinian Territories
Agencies, Arab News
OCCUIPED JERUSALEM, 27 September 2003 — Israel reimposed a strict closure yesterday on the Palestinian territories ahead of the Jewish New Year following a flare-up in violence, as the co-sponsors of the “road map” prepared to meet at the UN with little progress on the horizon for the ailing peace process.
An Israeli military source said Israel would prevent any Palestinians from entering its territory, except for residents of East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed in 1967, and in humanitarian cases, until the Rosh Hashanah holiday ends tomorrow night. The Israeli Army also sealed off the West Bank in a bid to prevent Palestinian retaliation for the deaths of six Palestinians, which shattered a relative lull in the three-year-old cycle of violence.
Five Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops and a three-year-old Palestinian girl died of fright on Thursday during army operations in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank city of Hebron. Among them were 15 residents of the Ramallah area suspected of belonging to the Hamas movement, the spokesman said. The Israeli police in Jerusalem also restricted access to Muslims to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound where thousands of worshipers flock to pray every Friday, fearing celebrations marking the third anniversary of the Palestinian uprising might spill over.
Meanwhile, representatives of the “quartet” of diplomatic powers which drew up the road map for peace in the Middle East were to discuss the latest developments between Israel and the Palestinians.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
It will be their first meeting since June, when the road map was launched and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas had generated hope that the intifada would come to an end and peace negotiations would resume. He has since stepped down and peace moves are on hold until his successor Ahmed Qorei forms a new government. Qorei announced yesterday in a statement that the Cabinet lineup would be announced “in the next few days”.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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