September 30, 2003	Tuesday	Sha’aban 3, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

JERUSALEM, Sept 29: The Israeli army lifted its blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday at the end of a Jewish new year that saw more bloodshed while Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei put the finishing touches to his cabinet.

The army had sealed off the Palestinian territories on Friday at the beginning of the Rosh Hashanah weekend with a view to preventing would-be Palestinian attackers from crossing into Israel.

But the seemingly airtight military blockade failed to prevent the killing of two Israelis, including a seven-month-old baby girl, on Friday night in the Negohot settlement near Hebron. The shooting was claimed by the radical Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad.

In the Gaza Strip, the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) also claimed responsibility for a mortar attack Sunday on the Gush Katif settlement bloc, inflicting no casualties.

State radio reported on Monday that in the internal security service, Shin Beth, had recorded around 40 alerts every day during the Jewish holiday.

The weekend coincided with the third anniversary of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, that has so far left 3,497 people dead, including 2,612 Palestinians and 822 Israelis, according to an AFP count. To mark the occasion, militant groups renewed their vows to continue the intifada while thousands of Palestinians took to the streets to protest against the Israeli occupation.—AFP