| Sunday, October 09, 2005 |
6 Tishrei, 5766 |
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More preparatory talks for summit
 Israeli
and Palestinian officials are meeting for a second time today to prepare this week's planned summit between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas said it's important to find agreement on key issues so the summit won't be a failure. "We do not want to disappoint the Palestinian public or the Israeli public," Abbas
told reporters. Abbas wants Israel to withdraw from towns in Judea and Samaria and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel says terrorists with Jewish blood on their
hands will not go free.
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Israel to Abbas: Disarm terrorists
Ahead of the summit, Israel has reiterated that there can be no progress on the internationally-backed "roadmap" peace plan, until the Palestinian Authority disarms terrorist
groups. "Our demand is unequivocal: they have to act against terrorism decisively," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio. "I think if they do that, we would be
willing to take a long series of measures that would ease things for them. Our aim is to march together towards a resumption of talks, but in accordance with the roadmap and
without the shortcuts the Palestinians want." The roadmap calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, but the first step demands that terrorist groups be dismantled.
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Terrorist killed in clash
A Palestinian terrorist was killed in a clash with Israeli troops near the town of Jenin in northern Samaria. The army said troops were on a routine patrol, when they spotted
three gunmen. Soldiers opened fire, and in an ensuing gun battle, one terrorist was killed. The dead man was from the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Mahmoud Abbas'
ruling Fatah faction. The group said the three gunmen were on a mission to attack Israeli soldiers, in retaliation for the killing of three of their fighters earlier this month.
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Weapons smuggling continues on Egypt-Gaza border
 Israel
says Egypt is not doing enough to stop the flow of weapons to Palestinian terror groups in Gaza. Though the Palestinian Authority and Egypt sealed the border a week after Israel
pulled out, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom says anti-tank rockets and shoulder-fired missiles have reached Gaza, even after the first week of chaos when the border was broken
down. "The Egyptians didn't exactly succeed in stopping the transfer of weapons," Shalom said. "We hope very much that the Egyptians will do more. There is no doubt that the
situation has improved, compared to the first days, but we still see a relatively free movement [of weapons]." Israeli hawks had warned that if Israel pulled out of the border
zone, Gaza would be flooded with weapons.
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