JERUSALEM, 11 August 2004 — A Palestinian teenager was shot dead yesterday by Israeli troops in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
Salim El-Kussa, 18, was killed and 11 other Palestinians were wounded when the Israeli soldiers opened fire to disperse stone-throwing protesters, witnesses added.
Meanwhile, hard-line members of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s own Likud party were gearing up yesterday for a new bid to derail the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip at an upcoming convention.
Sharon, who lost his parliamentary majority two months ago after the defection of right-wing coalition partners, is trying to stitch together a new coalition which would allow him to steer the plan through the Knesset.
But even as talks with the main opposition Labour Party and other religious parties drag on, Sharon now faces the prospect of having to placate his own party at a convention of some 3,000 members on Aug. 18 that was agreed to by Likud bosses on Monday.
Sharon has continued to pursue his so-called disengagement plan — which also envisages the de facto annexation of large West Bank settlement blocs — despite its rejection in a May referendum of Likud members and has again made clear he has no intention of allowing the convention to derail the project.
Palestinian and Israeli security officials had been due to meet on Sunday to finalize a deal allowing the arming of police on the streets of the West Bank, but the meeting has been indefinitely postponed.
Official sources said the agreement was stalling over an Israeli demand for names of security personnel to be vetted.
A senior Palestinian source said the Ramallah-based government would not bow to demands for such a list, after Sharon said his government would decide on who could carry weapons. Haaretz newspaper reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who initially approved the idea of arming the police last week, had now consigned the plan to “the deep freeze” after it was vigorously opposed by right-wing ministers in a Cabinet meeting.
Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat said he was still awaiting a response to a request for a bilateral security meeting.
“Until now we have not received any answer, positive or negative, about the meeting,” he said. “We have not heard about a reversal in the position by Mofaz.”
The West Bank has been gripped by growing lawlessness in recent weeks, including kidnappings and arson attacks on government buildings.
But while the Palestinian Authority has vowed to restore law and order, its room for maneuver is limited as Israel retains security responsibility for nearly all the territory, banning Palestinian police from strapping on weapons.
