RAMALLAH, West Bank, 15 June — The chief Palestinian negotiator said yesterday that a promised US proposal to create a Palestinian state must also set a deadline for ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. President George W. Bush vowed on Thursday to lay out a plan for Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat demanded that Bush set a timetable for reaching a clearly defined goal, which should be creation of a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“What is needed from the US administration is to specify a mechanism and to specify a time frame that will end the Israeli occupation,” Erekat told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks reoccupied the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm and its adjoining refugee camp, witnesses said.
About 15 tanks pushed their way in, with machine guns blazing, Israeli troops imposed a curfew on the town and the camp, they said. An army spokeswoman confirmed troops had entered Tulkarm on the hunt for wanted Palestinians.
Israel’s Army said its troops shot dead a Palestinian man after he stabbed and slightly wounded a Jewish settler at a gas station in Kedumim, a West Bank settlement. Palestinian medics said they saw no weapon near the body. Israeli forces also raided two Palestinian-ruled areas earlier.
In the latest of Israel’s almost daily incursions, the army detained three people in the West Bank city of Hebron and three people in a raid on the town of Bir Zeit near Ramallah. The director of Ramallah’s post office, Yasser Ghanem, was also arrested, Palestinian security sources said.
In another development, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said yesterday that he was holding talks with senior Palestinian officials on the possibility of holding a regional Middle East peace conference. Erekat, however, denied that Israel and the Palestinians were holding any political talks.
Arafat’s newly reorganized Palestinian government began work yesterday on a plan of action for its first 100 days, officials said.
An Israeli Defense Ministry statement said yesterday that Israel will start building tomorrow a massive security fence along the West Bank.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal amid reports that President Bush is planning to make peace proposals, probably next week.
In Brussels, EU diplomats said Israeli authorities have provided no evidence to back up allegations that EU funds helped finance attacks by Palestinians.
