They also doused in fuel and set ablaze a cardboard model of the Tel Aviv beachfront disco area where a suicide bomber killed 20 Israelis June 1. Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim militia loyal to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, marched with the crowd. This man will fail to do so. Previous security talks mediated at a lower level by the Americans, most recently May 30, have ended inconclusively, with each side blaming the other. In one round, Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan and his bodyguards came under Israeli fire.
Circumstances remain uncertain.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will head to the Middle East next week to press for an end to the violence and a resumption of peace talks. We don't know how long it will last. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told U.S. Mideast envoy William Burns there was no chance of a Palestinian state as long as Palestinian militias were active on the ground, Israel's army radio reported. The Daily Camera. All rights reserved.