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Mourners weep in front of the body of Matat Adler, murdered by Palestinian terorrists, during her funeral at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 17, 2005. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners October 18, 2005 |
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While affirming Israel's right to self-defense, the State Department on Monday chided Israel for imposing travel restrictions on Palestinians in response to a deadly terror attack.
In a message also delivered privately by Lt. Gen. William Ward, the U.S. security envoy in the region, the State Department said it continued to ask the Israeli government "to take steps to ease the daily plight of the Palestinian people."
Israel also suspended negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on issues such as prisoner releases after Palestinian gunmen killed three Israelis and wounded five in drive-by attacks near a bus stop south of Jerusalem on the road to Gush Etzion.
Palestinian terrorists, convinced their attacks succeeded in driving Israel to relinquish Gaza to the Palestinians last month, now appear to be shifting that strategy to Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank"), according to Israeli intelligence, as critics of the government's Gaza withdrawal predicted.
Historically, Israel has responded to terror attacks with military retaliation and economic curbs on the Palestinians in an effort to undercut the standing of terror groups among the people.
In Paris, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shootings as harmful to a cease-fire "and the calm that we have respected."
The State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said "the Palestinian side" has an obligation to fight terror and to dismantle terror networks.
"It's important to see action," he said, in sounding a now-familiar call for Abbas and other leaders of the Authority.
"More needs to be done," McCormack said, while also condemning the attacks on Israelis.
Israel, like the United States, is a victim of terror attacks, McCormack said, and "it is an important duty and responsibility of any government to protect its own people."
However, he said, "at the same time we urge them, in whatever steps that they do take and keep their eye on the ultimate objective which we all know and all sides share -- two states living together side by side in peace and security."
The AP contributed to this report.
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