On eve of cease-fire summit, Palestinians detain militants
GAZA CITY -- Palestinian security forces yesterday briefly arrested three leaders of a small militant faction responsible for an attack that wounded two Israeli soldiers, amid Israeli criticism that Palestinian leaders were not taking strong enough action to end violence.
The arrests of three officials from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine marked the first such detentions since Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was elected last month.
But the three men were released after five hours, party officials said.
Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, said the arrests could be meant to give the impression that the Palestinians were ''taking the fight against terrorists and terrorism seriously" in advance of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region today and a Middle East summit on Tuesday in Egypt.
Last week, Palestinian forces were deployed throughout the Gaza Strip to prevent rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
But Israel has demanded the Palestinians begin arresting militants and make efforts to disrupt their weapons-smuggling and weapons-manufacturing infrastructure.
''This is still something that has not happened," Shoval said.
Abbas has refused to crack down on militant groups, choosing to negotiate with them instead. Abbas recently won promises from the militants to halt attacks against Israelis but only if Israel promises to stop military operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
The Democratic Front claimed responsibility for an attack Thursday near the Kissufim border crossing into Israel that slightly wounded two soldiers and left the attacker dead.
Saleh Zeidan, a Democratic Front official, accused Palestinian officials of caving in to Israeli pressure with the detentions of Issam Abu Daqqa, Talal abu Zarifa, and Ziyad Jarjhoun. The three members of the group's central committee were picked up by security forces in the southern Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis yesterday morning.
Israel and the Palestinians have stepped up their criticism of each other during negotiations to prepare for the summit, which is expected to produce a joint cease-fire declaration formally ending four years of fighting.
In a pre-summit gesture to Abbas, Israel approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners and agreed to withdraw troops from Jericho, the first of five West Bank towns Israel is expected to leave, but Palestinian officials said the gestures are insufficient and were pushing for a broader prisoner release.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat and Dov Weisglass, a top Sharon aide, were to meet last night to try to resolve the disagreements, Palestinian officials said. Weisglass was to head to Cairo today to prepare for the summit.
At a meeting in Gaza yesterday, the Palestinians' ruling Fatah movement gave its support to the summit as an important step in pushing the peace process forward, said Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a Fatah official. ''We are cautiously optimistic. There are political horizons that have been opened."
