A leading Bedouin activist from Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's Likud party who helped boost electoral support for Mr Sharon among Bedouin in southern Israel has been detained by Israeli police for allegedly selling guns and ammunition to Palestinian militants for use in attacks against Israel.
Embarrassingly for Mr Sharon, Israel's TV news programmes last night screened footage of Mr Atalla Abu Aida visiting him at his Negev farm in February, weeks before the elections that brought the Prime Minister to power. That meeting focused on strategies for boosting the pro-Sharon vote. Mr Abu Aida, who insists that the allegations against him are "total fantasies", is said to be a close friend of the Prime Minister and of his son, Omri, and is a member of the Likud's Central Committee.
Mr Abu Aida has been in detention for the past week, having been arrested on suspicion of buying guns and ammunition stolen from army bases, smuggled into Israel from Jordan and other sources, and selling it to Hamas, Tanzim and other militant groups in the West Bank. It is claimed he bragged about his connections to Mr Sharon to obtain the material.
In continuing West Bank violence yesterday, a Palestinian woman, Ms Wafa Nasif (29), was killed outside Tulkarm. Palestinian sources said she had been hit in her home by Israeli fire. Israeli sources said their soldiers had exchanged gunfire with armed Palestinians in the area.
Despite a new call from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council for it to withdraw, Israel is still deploying troops on Palestinian land. A spokesman for Mr Sharon insisted "there is a plan to withdraw", but that it kept getting postponed because Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority was refusing to arrest militants in those areas or thwart their planned attacks on Israeli targets.
The US, Britain, France, Russia and China also called on the Palestinians to end Intifada violence against Israel. Palestinian minister Mr Hassan Asfour rejected the appeal.
Officials on both sides anticipate an intensive international diplomatic effort to end the conflict to begin in the next few days, with an EU delegation expected, and a landmark speech and possible visit to the region by the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell.