Posted on 05/29/2006 9:37:53 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers foiled a suicide attack Monday, catching two Palestinians with a bag of explosives after a three-hour foot chase in the West Bank, the army said.
Rival Palestinian factions, meanwhile, held a second day of talks meant to head off a national referendum on whether to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
In Malaysia, Palestinian feuding spilled onto the global stage as the foreign minister of the militantly anti-Israel Hamas government boycotted a meeting of the Nonaligned Movement to protest the attendance of a rival politician.
Israeli security forces had been tipped off late Sunday that militants in the area of the West Bank town of Nablus were planning an attack in Israel, said Lt. Col. Arik Chen, a battalion commander in the region.
Around daybreak, soldiers spotted two militants near Nablus carrying a suspicious bag, and ordered them to approach for a routine inspection, Chen said.
The militants threw away the bag, then fled the troops on foot, until they were cornered and gave themselves up, he said. The men surrendered only after troops fired in the air.
Inside the bag, soldiers found a bomb weighing 15 pounds, packed with nails and pieces of small metal, which heighten the deadly effect, Chen said. Sappers blew it up.
The militants were taken into custody and in initial questioning they admitted they planned to blow themselves up in Israel, but did not say where, the military said. They belonged to a cell of activists from the Islamic Jihad, Fatah and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant groups, it said.
On the political front, Palestinian factions entered their second day of talks on a proposal that would implicitly recognize Israel's right to exist, and could relieve crippling economic sanctions imposed by the West and Israel after Hamas won Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.
The United States and European Union demand Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel if it wants aid restored, but the Islamic militant group has refused.
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas lawmaker, said Hamas' representative to the talks was unable to reach the meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah for a second straight day because of Israeli roadblocks.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command have asked to have the talks moved to Gaza because of the travel restrictions, al-Masri said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party has said he plans to call a referendum on the proposal if no agreement is reached by the time the talks end on June 6. Hamas has reacted coolly to the ultimatum and signaled it will not honor the deadline.
At the movement of nonaligned nations in Malaysia, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of the Hamas-led Palestinian government reiterated that his government will not recognize Israel.
Zahar also caused a diplomatic flap by boycotting a meeting to which a rival from the Fatah faction was invited.
"I can't stand side by side with a man who is not representing the Palestinian government," Zahar said, referring to Farouk Kadoummi, a senior Fatah official and foreign minister of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The PLO, an umbrella group of Palestinian factions that does not include Hamas, traditionally has conducted foreign policy on behalf of the Palestinians.
Fatah has been locked in a power struggle with Hamas since the Islamic militants took power.
Also Monday, Israeli soldiers killed an armed Palestinian near the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel, the military said.
Soldiers identified three men near the fence, and fired at them, suspecting they intended to carry out an attack, the military said. One man was hit, it said.
The Popular Resistance Committees, a small Palestinian militant group, identified the dead man as Abdel Moati Shukri, a group member.
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Associated Press writer Sean Yoong in Putrajaya, Malaysia contributed to this report.
Smoke billows after Israeli airstrikes targeted the village of Sultan Yacoub, 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Syrian border, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, May 28, 2006. A Lebanese guerrilla was killed and two Lebanese civilians were wounded in cross-border fighting Sunday as Lebanese gunmen responded to Israeli airstrikes by attacking Israel, the Hezbollah's Al Manar TV said. A Palestinian militant was killed during a previous Israeli airstrike, the Lebanese army said. (AP Photo/Samer Husseini)
Thank God the Israelis were tipped off and could stop that attack. There's no guessing how many Israelis could have killed or maimed by that 'lil monster. It would be very interesting to know something more about the 2 Palies that tossed the bomb bag and ran.
Dont imprison the palirat btards. strap bobms to em and drive em to Gaza for a public detonation! They want to die! We should be good neighbors and oblige them!
Isn't Amy Tiebel the one that claims after every major terrorist attack that the Israelis knew about it and didn't tell everyone?
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