Palestinians fired six mortar bombsat Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip last night, hours after USSecretary Mr Colin Powell forged an agreement by both sides on atimetable for ending the violence.
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Mr Colin Powell
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Five bombs hit the Gadid settlement and one exploded at Netzarim, but they caused no casualties, the Israeli army said.
Mr Powell secured Israeli and Palestinian support fora seven-day test period without violence yesterday. If this held, he said, they could moveforward tothe next stage of the Middle East peace plan outlined in theMitchell report.
But it has not been specified when the seven-day test willbegin, and ultimately Israel will decide if its demands for "totalcalm" during the period have been met.
This morning Israel's cabinet secretary Mr Gidon Saar blamed Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah factionfor the yesterday's murder of a 27-year-old settler woman in theWest Bank.
"Yasser Arafat totally controls what happens on the ground, it'sFatah that committed Thursday's attack, and Yasser Arafat is thehead of Fatah," MrSaar said.
Ekaterina Weintraub was shot dead in an ambush near thePalestinian city of Jenin. Another woman was slightly wounded in theattack.
AFP