From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Peoples War] Palestine: Israeli forces shoot dead six Palestinians Ananova : Israeli forces shoot dead six Palestinians =========================== Israeli troops have shot dead six Palestinians in two separate confrontations on Sunday evening near the border with the northern Gaza Strip. The shootings came hours after senior Israeli security officials had announced that attacks by Palestinian militants had dropped significantly since Yasser Arafat's call for a cessation of violence two weeks ago. In the first shooting, troops in an armoured vehicle killed three Palestinians crouching 20 yards from the perimeter fence of the Jewish settlement of Alei Sinai, the scene of a suicide attack in October. The army initially said the Palestinians had opened fire on the troops, but later retracted the statement. Palestinian witnesses in a nearby village said the Israeli forces fired at least four tank shells and machine guns. A few hours later and only a short distance away, Israeli soldiers shot dead three armed Palestinians who had crossed the border, according to a statement issued by the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The trio were spotted by Israeli forces and ordered to halt. One of the Palestinian gunmen opened fire, and all three were killed by Israeli return fire. Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told a Cabinet meeting that the number and severity of Palestinian attacks was down for a second week in a row. Palestinian attacks have dropped from an average of 18 a day before Arafat's speech to 11 a day since then, the army said. And one Israeli has been killed since the 16th compared to a total of 37 in the first half of December. However, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Cabinet the Palestinians needed to do much more. He said he would not reopen peace talks "as long as the Palestinians have not taken the vital steps to arrest terrorists and punish them". More than 70 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces this month. Most died in the first half of the month amid almost daily clashes. Story filed: 02:17 Monday 31st December 2001 _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
