OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 4 April 2003 — Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in fresh acts of brutality in the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday as the United States vowed to press ahead with a long-delayed “road map” for Middle East peace.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of intensifying a crackdown while the world’s eyes were turned to Iraq.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Brussels to restore dialogue with opponents of the US war on Iraq, told European leaders Washington intended to promote the peace plan “as it is” without amendments by either side, but insisted it could not be forced on the parties, a senior US official said.
“Please understand that it can’t just be issued and magical things happen, and it’s not going to be just imposed,” the official, who asked not to be named, quoted Powell as saying. Despite Washington’s appeals for calm, the Israeli military raids have continued since the start of the war in Iraq two weeks ago. Israeli forces backed by tanks and helicopter gunships killed four Palestinians in a nine-hour raid on the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early yesterday, hospital officials said.
The army said the overnight operation in Rafah, near Gaza’s border with Egypt, was to demolish houses being used as shooting positions by Palestinians and suspected of concealing cross-border arms-smuggling tunnels.
