OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 4 August — Israeli troops yesterday killed a Palestinian truck driver for violating curfew in Hebron, arrested more people in Nablus and blew up more homes in occupied West Bank towns.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he still hoped to meet Palestinian leaders next week despite a bomb attack on an Israeli university. Powell condemned Palestinian attacks and mourned the five Americans and two Israelis who died in the Wednesday blast in Jerusalem, but said efforts to end 22 months of bloodshed must continue.
“We can’t walk away from it. We must continue to try to find a path forward,” Powell told a news conference in Manila. He made clear that no dates or participants for any peace effort had been set. But chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has said the meeting was likely to take place Thursday.
Palestinian medical sources said truck driver Abdel Rahim Al-Tawill was hit by several bullets in the Harouz district of Hebron by Israeli troops. He was evacuated to a local hospital where he died, the sources said.
In Nablus, tanks flanked the rim of the city’s old quarter, known as the Casbah, while soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for Palestinian fighters. Soldiers broke down doors of shops closed under curfew, witnesses said. The army has reimposed a curfew in Nablus, which residents had largely ignored in recent days.
Palestinians said the army blew up several buildings. The army demolished the houses of families of Palestinian activists and started procedures to deport some of their relatives. Bulldozers and army engineers razed four homes in three West Bank towns.
Egypt’s foreign minister said that President Hosni Mubarak will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Egypt on Tuesday to suggest what Israel should do to bring about peace. Ahmed Maher, who was speaking to reporters, did not say where the meeting would take place. Peres, who last visited Egypt more than 12 months ago, will be the second Israeli minister to visit Egypt in less than a month. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer held talks with Mubarak in July.
