JERUSALEM, Associated Press, 25 July –– Israel's army fired missiles from a hillside position, killing a senior activist from the militant Islamic group Hamas as he drove his car in a West Bank town Wednesday, witnesses and Israeli military officials said.

The activist, Saleh Darwazeh, 38, was alone in his red Volkswagen when it was hit by five rounds in Nablus, the witnesses said. The car was destroyed in the attack, which sent black plumes of smoke rising over the town.

Palestinian ambulances rushed to the scene and recovered the body, which was torn to pieces by the force of the blast.

"This assassination is intended to hit the (Palestinian) uprising with the aim of stopping it," said Jamal Salim, a Hamas spokesman in Nablus. "Hamas will not hesitate to respond to this brutal crime."

Darwazeh belonged to Hamas' political wing, and was not part of the military arm, said Salim, adding that he had been arrested several times previously by Israel.

Israel's army described Darwazeh as a "senior terrorist" who was involved in the planning of multiple attacks that killed eight Israelis and wounded more than 100 in recent months.

Several Palestinians near the scene said initially that they believed an Israeli tank fired shells. But Israeli military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ground-to-ground anti-tank missiles were used.

Hamas has carried out repeated bomb attacks against Israeli targets during the current uprising and says it will continue its campaign despite a cease-fire declared last month.

Israel has often carried out targeted attacks against suspected Palestinian militants, a policy that has drawn widespread international criticism. Palestinians say more than 30 people have been killed in such attacks since the current wave of violence erupted last September.

Israel says it carries out the assaults because the Palestinian Authority has refused to crack down on militants waging attacks against Israel.

Israel has demanded that the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, arrest dozens of suspected militants. But Palestinians security chiefs have said they have no intention to do so amid the current conflict.

The two sides were scheduled to have a security meeting Wednesday night, and the Palestinians said they would present Israel with a list of 50 suspected Israeli militants that they want arrested.

"We will not let (Jewish) settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip kill and terrorize our people," Palestinian intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam.

Jewish extremists are suspected in a shooting attack Thursday in which three Palestinians, including a baby, were killed. The attackers apparently escaped from the West Bank into Israel, but no arrests have been made.

Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, dismissed the list as a Palestinian publicity stunt.

In violence Tuesday near the Gaza-Egypt border, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy was critically wounded by Israeli gunfire, doctors said. The Israeli military said Palestinians fired guns and threw 13 grenades at an army post, and soldiers fired back.

Also Tuesday, a pregnant Israeli woman was killed near the West Bank settlement of Immanuel after a Palestinian taxi driver swerved after his car was hit by a stone, Israeli police spokesman Rafi Yaffe said.

It was not clear if Israelis or Palestinians threw the stone, he said. The taxi driver was injured and could not immediately answer police questions. Since violence began in September, more than 500 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and more than 100 on the Israeli side.

25 July 2001: We, the undersigned Israelis and Palestinians, are meeting in the most difficult of circumstances for both our peoples. We come together to call for an end to bloodshed, an end to occupation, an urgent return to negotiations and the realization of peace between our peoples. We refuse to comply with the ongoing deterioration in our situation, with the growing list of victims, the suffering and the real possibility that we may all be drowned in a sea of mutual hostility.

We hereby raise our voices and implore all people of goodwill to return to sanity, to re-discover compassion, humanity, and critical judgment and to reject the unbearable ease of the descent into fear, hatred, and calls for revenge.

In spite of everything we still believe in the humanity of the other side, that we have a partner for peace and that a negotiated solution to the conflict between our peoples is possible. Mistakes have been made on all sides, the trading of accusations and pointing of fingers is not a policy and is no substitute for serious engagement.

The impression that exists in both communities that 'time is on our side' is illusory. The passage of time benefits only those who do not believe in peace. The longer we wait, the more innocent blood will be spilt, the greater will be the suffering and hope will be further eroded. We must move urgently to re-build our partnership, to end the de-humanization of the other, and to revive the option of a just peace that holds out promise for our respective futures.

The way forward lies in international legitimacy and the implementation of UNSCR 242 and 338 leading to a 2-State solution based on the 1967 borders, Israel and Palestine living side-by-side, with their respective capitals in Jerusalem. Solutions can be found to all outstanding issues that should be fair and just to both sides and should not undermine the sovereignty of the Palestinian and Israeli states as determined by their respective citizens, and embodying the aspirations to statehood of both peoples, Jewish and Palestinian. This solution should build on the progress made between November 1999 and January 2001.

The immediate need is for the full and accurate implementation of the Recommendations of the Mitchell Committee, including: the cessation of violence, a total freeze on settlement activity, the implementation of outstanding agreements and a return to negotiations. This process needs to be monitored by an objective third party.

We see it as our duty to work together and each of us in their own communities, to put a halt to the deterioration in our relations, to rebuild trust, belief and the hope for peace.

Palestinian signatories: Yasser Abed Rabbo, Minister of Culture and Information; Hisham Abdul-Razek, Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs; Nabil Amr, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, PLC Member, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative for Global Dialogue and Democracy ; Hakam Balawi, PLC Member; Dr. Sari Nuseibeh, President, Al-Quds University; Dr. Gabi Baramki, Bir Zeit University; Hafez al-Barghouti, Editor, al-Hayat al-Jadida Daily; Dr. Nazmi al-Ju'beh,Director-General, Riwaq; Dr. Salim Tamari, Director, Institute for Jerusalem Studies; Suleiman Mansour, Director, Al-Wasiti Art Center; Dr. Mahadi Abdul-Hadi, director PASSIA; George Ibrahim, Director, Al-Qasaba Theater; Sufian Abu-Zaideh, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Civil Affairs; Jamal Zaqout, Director-General, Ministry of Civil Affairs; Sama'an Khoury, Director-General, Palestine Media Center; Dr. Samir Abdallah, Director, Pal-Trade; Samir Hulieleh, Manager, Nassar Investment Co.; As'ad al-As'ad, Writer; Abdul-Rahman Awad, Writer; Samir Rantisi, Media Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Information; Nisreen Haj-Ahmad, Lawyer; Rami Shehaded, Lawyer; Ghaith Al-Omari, Lawyer

Israeli signatories: Dr. Janet Aviad, Peace Now; Chaim Oron, former Minister, Meretz; Prof. Arie Arnon, Peace Now; Yossi Beilin, former Minister, Labor; Prof. Menachem Brienker, Hebrew University; Prof. Galia Golan, Peace Now; David Grossman, author; Dr. Yossi Dahan; Prof. Moshe Halberthal, Hebrew University; AB Yehoshua, author; Prof. Yirmyahu Yovel, Hebrew University; Prof. Dan Yaacobson, Tel Aviv University; Prof. Ephi Ya'ar, Steinmatz Institute for Peace; Daniel Levy, ECF; Ronit Matalon, author; Prof. Avishai Margalit, Hebrew University; S. Yizhar, author; Prof. Sami Samuha, Haifa University; Amos Oz, author; Ron Pundak, ECF, Peres Peace Center; Yair Tsaban, Former Minister, Meretz; Dr. Nissim Calderon; Prof. Ephraim Kleinman; Dr. Menachem Klein, Bar Ilan University; Dr. Aviad Kleinberg; Adv. Tzali Reshef, Peace Now; Prof. Yuli Tamir, former Minister, Labor

Mid-East Realities

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Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/7/304.htm