ISRAEL: Palestinian gunmen shot dead a Bulgarian labourer near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank yesterday, probably assuming him to be an Israeli, writes David Horovitz in Jerusalem
Gunmen also opened fire on workers building a controversial fence between Israel and the West Bank, fracturing a fragile ceasefire pledge issued on Sunday by most Palestinian factions. But to the public relief of the Bush administration, the key sponsor of this latest attempt at Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, said he recognised it would take time for the Palestinian government to ensure a complete halt to such attacks.
The Israeli army's scheduled withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip went ahead as planned. And Mr. Sharon and the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, are today scheduled to hold the latest in a series of what have been productive meetings, with a likely Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank city of Bethlehem tomorrow at the top of their agenda.
The dead man was named as Krastyu Radkov, a 46-year-old foreign worker, who was shot in the head. Responsibility for the attack - the first since the so-called "hudna," or 90-day ceasefire, was supposed to have taken effect - was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an extremist offshoot of Mr Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction of the PLO.
While Fatah has formally endorsed the truce, the brigades have not, and the local leader behind yesterday's killing vowed in a statement that it would be the first of many. Many members of the Israeli government have been publicly sceptical about the ceasefire, and the US is backing Israel's demand that Mr Abbas now act fast to permanently dismantle Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and other such groups responsible for attacking Israelis, rather than merely overseeing a short-term suspension of violence. However, Mr Sharon told Likud party colleagues yesterday that it was unreasonable to expect Mr Abbas to "eradicate terrorism" overnight, and also declared a readiness to free some of the 5,000 Palestinian security prisoners Israel has jailed to bolster Mr Abbas's standing with his own people.
In similar vein, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said his hope for the new "road map" initiative, in contrast to previous failed attempts at peacemaking, was that the parties "not let a single incident of an outsider, a terrorist," derail the process. Mr Abbas, Mr Sharon and the Americans are hopeful that changes on the ground will bolster Palestinian support for a new era of reconciliation.
The first such changes occurred overnight, with the Israeli army pulling back from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
The formal transfer of authority took place yesterday, with much handshaking between Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Local Palestinian residents protested that the town had been virtually destroyed by the Israelis in recent months - roads bulldozed, homes smashed and trees uprooted.
Israel says the army was deployed there to prevent rocket being fired into Israel by Hamas extremists, and cleared homes and trees to prevent Hamas from finding cover.
Also yesterday, Israel relinquished control of the main road through the Gaza Strip, from the Erez crossing point at the north, down to the town of Khan Younis. Palestinians travelling in trucks, taxis and private cars cheered and waved at the newly deployed Palestinian Authority policemen along the route.
After Israeli and Palestinian bulldozers cleared concrete blocks from a dismantled checkpoint at the Netzarim junction, Mr Ahmed al-Dura, whose son Mohammad was killed there at the start of the conflict three years ago, brought a wreath to the site and urged Israel to leave the Gaza Strip altogether.