Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, under growing pressure to rein in militants, on Monday ordered his security forces to prevent attacks against Israel and investigate a deadly shooting of Israeli civilians last week.
However, Palestinian security officials were short on details about possible action against armed groups, and a spokesman for Hamas said the violent Islamic group would continue carrying out attacks.
The order by Abbas, approved by his Cabinet, was the Palestinians' first step against militants since last week's attack at the vital Karni crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which killed six Israelis.
"A decision was taken that we will handle our obligation to stop violence against Israelis anywhere," said Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.
While Israel cautiously welcomed the announcement, it remained unclear how far Abbas would be willing to go. Abbas insists he will use persuasion, not force, to rein in militants.
Palestinian ministers said Abbas planned to travel to Gaza yesterday, a day earlier than initially planned, for talks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Abbas' victory in Jan. 9 presidential elections last week raised hopes for a breakthrough in Mideast peacemaking. Abbas has been an outspoken critic of violence and is eager to resume negotiations with Israel.
But the Karni attack, two days before Abbas was sworn into office, dispelled Israeli goodwill. Karni, the main crossing where food and other goods are shipped in and out of Gaza has been closed since the attack late Thursday.
After the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suspended contacts with Abbas, and US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Abbas in a phone call on Sunday to rein in the armed groups, Palestinian and US officials said.
Powell called Abbas on Sunday, said US Consulate spokesman Chuck Hunter, and "emphasized the critical need to take action to stop Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets."
Israeli troops raided several areas in Gaza over the weekend to halt rocket fire on Israeli settlements and border towns, withdrawing early on Monday.
Sixteen Palestinians were killed in the raids, among them seven civilians, including a 10-year-old boy.
Israel decided to hold off on a major military offensive in Gaza to give Abbas more time to act against militants, a senior government official said Monday.
During Monday's Cabinet meeting, the Palestinian ministers instructed the Preventive Security Service, which controls the Palestinian side of crossings into Israel, to investigate the Karni attack. Three militant groups, including Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has ties to Abbas' ruling Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli officials have said they have indications that the attackers left from a Palestinian Authority base and passed through a Palestinian checkpoint on the way to the attack.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not