Israel forces Abbas to cancel Gaza tour: Bush may visit ME: paper
BEIT HANOUN (Gaza Strip), May 21: Israeli tanks forced the Palestinian prime minister to scrap a tour in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday amid reports that US President George W. Bush may visit the Middle East to try to rescue a peace plan.
The cancellation of the trip here was another setback to hopes that had been lifted by a New York Times report Bush may take a more direct role in pushing a peace “road map” threatened by a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.
Fifteen tanks took up positions just inside Beit Hanoun and troops put up razor wire with a sign saying “security zone, no entrance” just before Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, was due to arrive.
Three army bulldozers dug up earth nearby.“Abu Mazen has cancelled the visit because of the Israeli tank raid in Beit Hanoun which has blocked the town entrance and the razing of land in Beit Hanoun this morning,” said Sufian Abu Zaida, a Palestinian Authority official.
“Israel must cease its escalations (of violence) and invasions of Palestinian areas because these actions only feed the cycle of violence and deepen hatred between the two peoples,” Abbas said in a statement.
Tanks returned to the edge of Beit Hanoun hours after pulling out on Tuesday. The withdrawal had raised hopes of an initial step in implementing the peace plan drawn up by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.—Reuters
