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June 22, 2001/Tamuz 1, 5761, Vol. 53, No.38
Public questions violent cease-fire
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Faced with continued casualties, the Israeli public is growing increasingly frustrated with a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect last week.
On June 20, an Israeli from the settlement of Homesh was killed in a West Bank shooting attack. The man continued driving to Homesh after being shot, but rescue workers were unable to save him, according to Israel Radio.
He was the third victim of a West Bank ambush since June 18, when Palestinian gunmen killed two other Israeli settlers in separate attacks on West Bank roads.
Officials from Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party claimed responsibility for both June 18 attacks. The officials said members of the group's militia would continue attacking Israelis, arguing that the U.S.-brokered deal applies only to those areas under sole Palestinian control - not to Israeli settlements and surrounding areas.
The Palestinian public likewise saw its death toll increase after the cease-fire, which began June 13.
Prime Min-ister Ariel Sharon convened his top security officials June 19 to discuss the continuing Palestinian attacks.
After the meeting, Israeli officials warned that they will reconsider their commitment if the Palestinian Authority does not clamp down on violence.
Arafat said June 19 his people are not to blame for the violence that has threatened the cease-fire.
"We do not commit acts of violence," Arafat said during a visit to Madrid. "The violence today is committed by the settlers."
Israeli and Palestinian security officials charged each other with numerous cease-fire violations during a meeting between the two sides June 18.
The Palestinians rejected the Israeli condition that six weeks of quiet precede any resumption of negotiations, Israeli Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said June 19 that the cease-fire was in danger of total collapse if Arafat does not clamp down on Palestinian terror.
A day earlier, Peres had been somewhat more optimistic, saying the two sides have yet to achieve a total cessation of violence.
A group representing Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip issued a statement June 18 saying Sharon's government is responsible for the shooting because it had "decided to fall into the illusory cease-fire trap."
In the statement, the Yesha Council, representing Palestinian settlers, also called on Sharon to "immediately call a halt to this bloody cease-fire."
Sharon rejected the settlers' calls to abandon the cease-fire.
In an effort to show solidarity with the Jewish state, Israel and American Jews are cooperating on a new initiative to send one or two members of every synagogue in the United States to Israel in the coming months.
Dubbed "Operation Joshua," the campaign is the latest effort to show solidarity with Israel. It is being organized by the Israel Government Tourist Office, with the assistance of the Presidents Conference.
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