JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - American President George W. Bush and the Palestinian National Authority gave conflicting assessments of Washington's role in peace making in the region as two Israelis were killed In a series of on-going intifadha confrontations Tuesday.
An Israeli settler shot dead in the West Bank, and two Palestinian youths were hurt in clashes in the Gaza Strip.With violence grinding on, no political initiatives appeared on the horizon. The Palestinians again appealed for an international force of observers to protect them from Israeli aggression.
The Palestinians have been making such pleas for months, but Israelis are opposed to outside intervention, and no such contingent appeared likely in the region anytime soon.
Wrapping up a round of golf near his Texas ranch on Tuesday, Bush sought to drive home the message that Washington remained involved in Middle East peacemaking, saying he hoped ''sanity will prevail.
ON-GOING INTIFADHA CONFRONTATIONS:
After nightfall, a 40-year-old Israeli motorist was shot while driving in the West Bank near the city of Nablus, and died of his wounds. The Israeli, who was from a nearby settlement, was shot from a passing car.
The circumstances behind the killing of another Israeli in the West Bank was unclear.(Read photo caption below)
Wael Ghanem, an Israeli Arab, was shot and killed as he drove toward the Jewish settlement of Tzofin on the West Bank, not far from where an Israeli woman was killed Sunday.
Palestinian security sources said Ghanem was a collaborator with Israeli security during the first Palestinian uprising, from 1987-93. He moved to Israel and received citizenship, they said, indicating that he might have been killed because of his background.
However, he was driving a car with yellow Israeli license plates on a West Bank road where a similar shooting attack had taken place, raising the possibility that Palestinian Resistance men thought they were targeting an Israeli settler. More than 30 settlers have been killed in Palestinian ambushes and drive-by shootings since the current uprising against Israeli occupation erupted Sept. 28. (Read photo caption below).
In the Gaza Strip, clashes erupted at a daily flashpoint near the Israeli occupation army post along the border with Egypt. Palestinians threw grenades and firebombs at Israeli occupation soldiers, who fired back. Two Palestinians, ages 12 and 13, were wounded, hospital doctors said.
PALESTINIANS ON AMERICA' S ROLE
Palestinians complained that international observers have not been sent, despite a call from the eight top industrialized countries last month. Nabil Aburdeneh, an aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, charged that nothing has happened ``because of the absence of the American role in the region and international weakness in facing Israeli aggression.''
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo complained that the United States does not have a clear policy. ``They have to understand that the instability of their policy works against their interests in the region,'' he told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
BUSH SAYS HIS ADMINISTRATION IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN PEACE MAKING IN THE MIDDLE EAST:
In his remarks to reporters near his ranch in Texas, Bush said he wrote a letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday assuring him of the U.S. commitment to Middle East peace.
``We're very much involved,'' Bush said, apparently trying to counter a view that Washington had disengaged from efforts to pull Israel and the Palestinians back from the brink.
``Our administration has been in contact with the Israelis and the Palestinians on a regular basis,'' he said. ``It's important for both sides to break the cycle of violence.''
Bush reiterated both sides must embrace a peace blueprint drawn up by a panel led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell that calls for an end to violence, followed by a cooling-off period, confidence-building moves and eventual peace talks.
``But we're not even into Mitchell yet and we can't get into Mitchell until (the) violence stops,'' he said, echoing a view voiced frequently by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
PHOTO CAPTION:
An Israeli police forensic officer takes pictures in the car of an Arab Israeli motorist who was shot and killed by Palestinian Resistance men in an ambush near the West Bank town of Qalqilya Tuesday Aug. 7, 2001. Israeli security officials are trying to determine if the Palestinian attackers targeted the Arab Israeli man, or if they killed him inadvertently, believing he was a jewish settler. (AP Photo/Pavel Wolberg)