Gaza City - Israeli ground forces accompanied by tanks and
Apache helicopters entered eastern Gaza city at noon Saturday,
witnesses said.
According to witnesses, three bulldozers, backed by four tanks,
started to raze installations in the industrial zone near Karni
commercial crossing in the east of Gaza City.
Residents in the area said the helicopters opened machine gunfire
to provide cover for the forces on the ground while children threw
stones at the tanks.
Palestinian fighters, carrying mines and rocket-propelled grenade
(RPG) launchers, fought the sudden incursion.
Earlier, the Israeli army rolled into eastern parts of central
Gaza Strip and clashed with Palestinian militants before withdrawing
in the morning, residents of al-Maghazi and al-Burij refugee camps
said.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility for launching a
home-made rocket into the southern Israel city of Sderot.
'The rocket attack was in response to the Israeli crimes in the
Gaza Strip and West Bank,' the brigades said in a statement e-mailed
to the media.
The incursion came as a Palestinian research centre for prisoners'
issues called on Egypt to renew its mediation between Israel and the
Palestinian factions that are holding an Israeli soldier in Gaza.
Ra'fat Hamdouna, director of the Prisoners' Centre for Study and
Research, said that the Egyptian efforts should be based on
'humanitarian and national dimensions.'
The Palestinian factions holding Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit are
demanding Israel release older prisoners, women, children and the
infirm from its jails in exchange for the soldier. Israel is holding
about 11,000 Palestinians.
'Neglecting those groups of prisoners in any future swap won't
make the deal fruitful,' said Hamdouna, adding he was 'optimistic
that the Egyptian intervention could work out.'
Egypt suspended mediation in June when the Islamic Hamas movement,
which led Shalit's captors, seized control of the Gaza Strip and
routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A spokesman for Abbas' Fatah movement denied on Saturday reports
of secret talks abroad with rival Hamas.
'What has been published recently about a big conference for the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Fatah leaders slated to
be held in Damascus is fabricated news,' Ahmed Abdel Rahman said in a
statement sent to the press.
He accused Hamas, which is not part of the PLO, of calling for the
conference 'to boost their violent power by showing the people that
some sides in this or that country support them.'
'Any conference not called by President Abbas, the PLO or its
executive committee is not a legitimate one and has no value,' Abdel
Rahman added.
Abbas wants Hamas to end its control of the Gaza Strip and leave
the security compounds taken during the fighting. Hamas has rejected
the demands and has called for unconditional dialogue.
Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said that
upcoming negotiations with Israel would not start from zero,
unlike previous talks.
'The form of solution has become clear for the two sides and we
just need to put this form into an agreement,' Qurei told Jerusalem-
based al-Quds daily.
'Claiming that the current internal (Palestinian) situation
doesn't allow for a solution is no longer acceptable because the
settlement will resolve other problems for the Israelis and the
Palestinians,' the negotiator added.
The Palestinian Territories are currently divided between the Gaza
Strip run by Hamas (boycotted by the United States and Israel) and
the West Bank run by Fatah.
Abbas appointed Qurei, a former premier and a key negotiator, to
head the Palestinian negotiation team which will meet a similar
Israeli team to work on a deal before attending a US-sponsored peace
conference.
'We must look for alternatives and choices if we do not reach a
joint document with Israel before the November international
conference,' said Qurei, adding that the document should include 'the
basic points based on international resolutions, the Arab peace
initiative and President Bush's vision.'
He also asserted that the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the
United States 'should be united in a timetable setting the start and
the end of the negotiation process.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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