GAZA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Palestinians accused Israel of assassinating a senior security official in a car blast in Gaza on Saturday that cast a shadow over efforts to arrange talks aimed at ending more than 11 months of bloodshed. (Read photo caption below) A senior Israeli political source denied any Israeli involvement in the death of Taiseer Khatab, director of the office of Palestinian Intelligence Chief Amin al-Hindi.
Palestinian officials said Khatab was killed and two people were wounded in the blast that threw body parts into the street. Blood stained the car seats and road.
``Israel is behind Khatab's assassination. He was personally targeted,'' the head of Palestinian West Bank intelligence, Tawfiq al-Tirawi, told Reuters.
Hours later, an explosion in a Palestinian taxi near the West Bank town of Tulkarm killed a Palestinian woman and wounded four other passengers. Palestinian security officials said the cause of the blast was not immediately known.
Hundreds of Palestinian security men took part in Khatab's funeral in Gaza. Policemen fired in the air and some held signs reading ``Fatah will avenge your death.''
Fatah, led by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, is the main faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
At least 548 Palestinians and 157 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted last September after peace talks froze.
GERMAN AND ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET ARAFAT
On the sidelines of a U.N. racism conference in South Africa, the German and Italian foreign ministers held talks with Arafat to discuss a possible meeting between him and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
``We discussed the issue,'' German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters after he and Italy's Renato Ruggiero met Arafat. ``I think it should be well prepared. Expectations should be reduced; the preparation is very important.''
Israeli sources said earlier in the week talks were under way between Israeli and Palestinian officials to prepare for a possible Arafat-Peres meeting as earlier as next week.
In Rome on Friday, a senior diplomatic source close to Italy's foreign ministry said Arafat and Peres might meet informally at a September 7-9 business conference at Cernobbio, near Milan.
Israeli media said Arafat and Peres, Nobel Peace Prize laureates in 1994, would try to build on diplomatic efforts that led to the European Union-brokered withdrawal of Israeli tanks and troops from the West Bank town of Beit Jala on Thursday.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will visit the Middle East next week for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Peres and Arafat aimed at consolidating a tattered cease-fire and encouraging them to resume negotiations.
At the U.N. conference on Saturday, Arafat repeated charges he made a day earlier accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing in confronting the 11-month-old Palestinian uprising against occupation.Israel has rejected the allegations and said Arafat was only sowing more hatred.
PALESTINIANS ACCUSE ISRAEL
Palestinian officials accused Israel of assassinating Khatab in Gaza City as part of its policy of tracking and killing Palestinians who it says are planning attacks against Israelis.
A statement issued by the Palestinian Intelligence Services said that Israel ``carried full responsibility for the bloody escalation carried out through the security system and spies.'' It said the explosive had been placed under Khatab's car seat.
Israel drew international criticism earlier this week after it assassinated Abu Ali Mustafa, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) faction, in a missile strike on his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Israel said Mustafa had directed a series of PFLP car bomb attacks since last September. Palestinian officials say Mustafa was a political leader and not involved in military activities.
Palestinians say almost 70 activists have been killed in what Israel calls a policy of self-defense aimed at preventing more attacks like those that have killed scores of Israelis.
VIOLENCE IN HEBRON MARS START OF PALESTINIAN SCHOOL YEAR
The Israeli army of occupation reported exchanges of fire with Palestinian Resistance men in the predominantly Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank on Saturday after fierce battles between heavily armed Israeli occupation soldiers and lightly armed Palestinian Resistance men there overnight.
It said one of its soldiers and another Israeli were wounded in Saturday's fighting.
Palestinian educators in Hebron said Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinians and curfews in the Israeli-held part of the city made it difficult for many pupils to reach class at the start of the Palestinian school year on Saturday.
``The occupation soldiers prevented groups of girls from going to their schools,'' Ikram al-Tamimi, a teacher, told reporters. ``They told us the schools were closed until you stop shooting. We were stopped for an hour, many girls were afraid and started crying.''
The Israeli army of occupation said two schools in Hebron did not open ''because of repeated shooting toward the Jewish quarter.''
In a statement, the occupation army said the Palestinian school year opened smoothly elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza Strip despite long-standing blockades of Palestinian cities. Israel cites security considerations for imposing the closures, which Israel is maintaining as collective punishment.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Palestinians accused Israel of assassinating Palestinian intelligence official Taiseer Ktatab in a Gaza car blast September 1, 2001 that cast a shadow over efforts to arrange talks aimed at ending more than 11 months of bloodshed. Palestinian security men inspect a Palestinian car after the explosion. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)