In the Middle East a Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Tulkarem. Eyewitnesses and hospital officials said that he was shot as he drove his car during an exchange of fire between the Israeli army and armed Palestinians. His death brings the toll to 332 Palestinians, 61 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs killed in the five months since a Palestinian uprising erupted after peace talks became deadlocked.
Earlier today the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that it would have been impossible for him to hold a meeting with the US Secretary of State in Ramallah without the help of Jordan’s King Abdullah. At a press conference following his meeting with Colin Powell, Yasser Arafat said that the Israel had prohibited him from using his helicopter to travel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. " If King Abdullah of Jordan had not let me use his helicopter, I would not have been able to come here and meet Secretary Powell," he said. Mr Arafat also claimed that he had been unable to use his own car to travel between Palestinian cities because of Israeli cordons.
However, the Israeli Prime Minister has denied Arafat’s claim. Ehud Barak’s office said that Arafat had not requested to fly over Israel. West Bank and the Gaza Strip are separated by Israeli land. Israel said that Palestinian territories are closed for security reasons. Palestinians have branded the measures “collective punishment”.
Meanwhile, Colin Powell, has urged Israel to end what he called its economic siege of the Palestinian territories. General Powell was speaking after a meeting with Mr Arafat, at which he said he had discussed with the Palestinian leader ways of ending the cycle of violence.
Earlier General Powell met Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister-elect, who said the Palestinians must end violence before Israel will ease economic sanctions against them. "As Prime Minister, I will conduct negotiations with the PA (Palestinian Authority) following the cessation of hostilities," Sharon said at a joint press conference with Powell following a 90-minute meeting in Jerusalem.
"Israel will not be negotiating under pressure of terror or violence," he said. Sharon, who is still trying to form a coalition government following his crushing 6 February election victory over the outgoing Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, said that he had presented to Powell his "commitment and plans to achieve security and peace," but gave no details.
Speaking in the West Bank after meeting the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, General Powell said it was important that Palestinian economic activity should be allowed to resume. Israel has sealed off the two territories because of what it says are security concerns.
Powell had said yesterday that for negotiations to start again, violence needed to be curbed, security co-operation resumed and Israel's economic blockade on Palestinians addressed, particularly the issue of transferring taxes owed to the PA.
