ISRAEL: Right-wing Israeli cabinet member Natan Sharansky resigned yesterday in protest at prime minister Ariel Sharon's planned withdrawal from Gaza, a sign of widening internal rifts ahead of the pull-out.
Underlining growing tensions on the Palestinian side too, Islamic militants dismissed an order by president Mahmoud Abbas's government to stop carrying weapons on Gaza streets.
Mr Sharansky, whose writings on democracy have impressed US president George Bush, quit as diaspora affairs minister, complaining that Mr Sharon's formula for "disengaging" unilaterally from conflict with the Palestinians could invite more violence.
"In my view, the disengagement plan is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism, and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace," he said in an open resignation letter. He later said: "I am against one-sided steps. I believe that the peace process can be successful only if there is reciprocity."
Israeli troops swooped on a West Bank village yesterday, killing a fugitive militant. An Israeli soldier was also killed in the clash, which strained an already tenuous ceasefire declared by Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon last February.
Meanwhile, the family of an award-winning British film-maker shot dead in Gaza are taking civil action against the Israeli government, it emerged today. James Miller was making a documentary about Palestinian children in the Rafah refugee camp when he was gunned down by an Israeli soldier in May 2003.
The 34-year-old from Braunton, in Devon, and his colleagues were attempting to leave the home of a Palestinian family in Rafah on May 2nd. The group claimed they were carrying a white flag and called out to troops stationed nearby to inform them that they were British journalists.