JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Side-stepping what could have been an opportunity for Washington to voice concerns about Israeli tactics against Palestinians, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has postponed a trip this week to the United States.The U.S. administration is concerned that military advances by its close ally into Palestinian-ruled areas could undermine Arab and other Muslim backing for Washington's campaign against Islamic militant Osama bin Laden. (Read photo caption below) Sharon's aides said the ''security situation'' in Israel meant he could not travel.
Western hopes for progress toward reviving the peace process may switch to Monday in Brussels after European Union officials said Sharon's foreign minister, Shimon Peres, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will attend an international meeting.
But they may not actually have talks with each other -- in a further blow to hopes for peace, as violence flared at home on Saturday, Peres and Arafat failed to hold formal bilateral talks during their attendance at another international conference on the Spanish island of Majorca this weekend.
A foreign ministry official from Belgium, which holds the EU presidency, said there were also no plans for the Israeli and Palestinian visitors to get together in Brussels on Monday.
After relative quiet in the volatile West Bank and Gaza, the death toll rose late on Saturday after hospital officials said a Palestinian security officer died from injuries caused by Israeli tank and machinegun fire in central Gaza.
The army denied using tanks and said it returned gunfire after Palestinians fired at the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement and attempted to launch a mortar attack.
Palestinian security sources said there was Israeli machinegun and tank fire in northern, central and southern Gaza and the West Bank town of Tulkarm. Israeli military sources said troops were responding to a Palestinian attack.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Palestinian hurls a stone at an Israeli tank, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Friday, Nov. 2, 2001. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)