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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: February 5, 2005 |
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Palestinian security forces on Saturday briefly arrested three leaders of a small militant faction responsible for a recent attack that lightly wounded two Israeli soldiers amid Israeli criticism they were not taking strong enough action to end violence.
The arrests of three officials from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine marked the first such detentions since new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was elected last month, but the officials were released five hours later, party officials said.
Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the arrests could be meant to give the impression the Palestinians were "taking the fight against terrorists and terrorism seriously" in advance of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region Sunday and a Middle East summit on Tuesday in Egypt.
Last week, Palestinian forces deployed throughout the Gaza Strip to prevent rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
However, Israel has demanded the Palestinians begin arresting militants and make efforts to disrupt their weapons smuggling and weapons manufacturing infrastructure.
"This is still something that has not happened," Shoval said.
Abbas has refused to crack down on militant groups, choosing to negotiate with them instead. Abbas has recently won promises from the militants to halt attacks against Israelis but only if Israel promises to stop military operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Saleh Zeidan, a DFLP official, accused Palestinian officials of caving in to Israeli pressure when they arrested Issam Abu Daqqa, Talal abu Zarifa and Ziyad Jarjhoun, three members of the group's central committee in the southern Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis on Saturday morning.
The DFLP claimed responsibility for an attack Thursday near the Kissufim border crossing into Israel that lightly wounded two soldiers and left the attacker dead.
Both Israel and the Palestinians have stepped up their criticism during negotiations to prepare for the summit, which is expected to produce a joint cease-fire declaration formally ending four years of fighting.
In a pre-summit gesture to Abbas, Israel approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners and agreed to withdraw troops from Jericho, the first of five West Bank towns Israel is expected to leave, but Palestinian officials said the gestures were insufficient and were pushing for a broader prisoner release.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat and Dov Weisglass, a top Sharon aide, were to meet Saturday night to try to resolve the disagreements, Palestinian officials said.
Weisglass was to head to Cairo on Sunday to prepare for the summit.
During a meeting in Gaza on Saturday, the Palestinians' ruling Fatah movement gave its support to the summit as an important step in pushing the peace process forward, said Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a Fatah official.
"We are cautiously optimistic. There are political horizons that have been opened and we must deal with it with all responsibility and seriousness," he said.
Fatah's 126-member Revolutionary Council, the movement's second-most powerful body, also discussed preparations for long-overdue party elections set to take place in August. The internal elections will be the party's first in 16 years.
Young Fatah leaders have accused entrenched party leaders of widespread corruption and intentionally delaying elections to keep them out of the Central Committee, the party's main decision-making body.
"We must provide opportunities so that there is no clash between the generations," Abdel Rahim said.
The council was also discussing how to position itself for upcoming parliamentary elections in the wake of the Islamic Hamas group's overwhelming victory in local elections in 10 Gaza towns last month. The vote reflected widespread dissatisfaction among Gaza residents with the corruption-plagued Palestinian Authority.
Hamas, responsible for dozens of attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis, also provides an array of social services, including education, welfare and health services to Gaza residents.
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