Israel Responds to Arafat’s Speech By Killing 3 Palestinians & Briefly Detaining Two of His Top Aides

27/05/2001| IslamWeb

JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israeli occupation troops responded to Yasser Arafat’s call to end all attacks against the Jewish state by shooting dead three Palestinians on Monday, including a Hamas member and a 12-year-old boy, drawing vows from militant groups to defy Yasser Arafat's demand for a halt to armed attacks on Israelis.
Israel and the United States demanded action, not words, from Arafat, whose job clamping down on militants appeared to get harder as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) vowed to continue attacks against Israel.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that President Bush would judge the Palestinian leader based on whether his ``words turn into concrete acts.''
``Action has now to be taken. We have to see action,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters.
In rare criticism of Israel, the United States called the brief detention of the Palestine Liberation Organization's top official for Jerusalem affairs by Israeli police ``provocative and counterproductive'' and said it had lodged a complaint.
In his first comments since Arafat's speech to the Palestinian people on Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said: ``We are fed up with all these declarations, promises. Words have nothing to do here --only deeds.'' Hamas, which has spearhead a Resistance bombing campaign against Israel, issued a statement saying it would not heed Arafat's call to end attacks against the Jewish state which it said was ``an unjust formula that can't be accepted.''
The PFLP's military wing said it would continue ``armed resistance.'' ``Operations will continue as long as the occupation exists,'' the group said in a separate statement.
Arafat, pressured by Israel and the United States to crack down on militants after a wave of Resistance bombings, has outlawed the military wings of Hamas, the PFLP and other militant groups.