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Yahoo! News   Fri, May 02, 2003
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Mideast Conflict
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Road map threatens peace USA TODAY (May 1, 2003)
Mideast plan enters 'changed environment' USA TODAY/Yahoo! News (May 1, 2003)
Israeli Troops Raid Gaza, 15 Palestinians Killed Reuters (May 1, 2003)
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Bumpy road to hope The Toronto Star. (May 2, 2003)
A belated blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian peace Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (May 2, 2003)
Drive toward Mideast peace requires steady U.S. hand USA TODAY (May 1, 2003)
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Middle East - AP
Palestinians Bury 12 in Mass Funeral
Fri May 2, 6:50 AM ET

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets Friday for the mass funeral of 12 Palestinians who were killed during a raid by Israeli troops on a Hamas stronghold.

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AP Video Israelis, Palestinians Exchange Gunfire in Gaza
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Gunmen marching among the crowd called for revenge, and one armed militiaman speaking from a loudspeaker warned the new Palestinian government against cooperating with a fresh peace plan or trying to disarm Palestinian militias.

Palestinian officials and Israeli opposition leaders accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) of using Thursday's raid in Gaza to undercut the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, before he has a chance to fulfill a promise to get armed groups to stop their fight against Israel.

The Israeli raid came just a day after international mediators presented the so-called "road map" to peace.

A Sharon adviser said Israel would not halt its anti-terror campaign and would not give Abbas, sworn in Wednesday, a grace period to crack down on militants.

A 13th person killed in the Gaza battle, 2-year-old Amer Ayad, was buried Thursday. The boy was hit by a bullet to the head while he was near a window in his home, his father said.

The other dead were eight gunmen and four civilians — two boys, ages 13 and 15, a taxi driver and a mentally handicapped man.

A crowd of mourners carried their bodies on stretchers from a hospital morgue and walked down a main street.

A gunman from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Abbas' own Fatah (news - web sites) party, stood on the roof of a moving car and used a loudspeaker to shout a message for the new Palestinian prime minister.

"To everyone who can hear our bullets, our message is: our weapons are our dignity and any hand that takes our weapons will be cut off," he said, after firing off a few rounds.

He urged the new Palestinian government not to fight the militants: "Don't leave the trench of resistance. We are facing the same enemy."

On Wednesday, the Hamas militant group carried out a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv cafe that killed a waitress and two musicians.

Israel responded with the Gaza raid, and more than 200 Palestinian gunmen fought back with anti-tank missiles, grenades and homemade explosives. Sixty-five Palestinians were wounded, including 15 critically.

Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded, including one who was in serious condition, the military said.

The peace plan aims to achieve Palestinian statehood within three years. The Palestinians have accepted the plan, while Israel has expressed major reservations.

The road map starts with a Palestinian crackdown on terror groups and an Israeli freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites). It also calls for a gradual Israeli pullout from the autonomous Palestinian zones its troops have reoccupied during 31 months of fighting.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) was expected to visit the region soon, perhaps next week, to push the start of the plan.

 

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, President Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), urged Israelis and Palestinians to end fighting and siphon some momentum for change from the fall of Iraq (news - web sites)'s Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

"The president expects all countries in the region, including Israel, to take advantage of the opportunity that has been given to them to build a Middle East with more hope and more peace," she told the paper.

Meanwhile, the Haaretz newspaper reported Friday that Israel would bar entry to foreign pro-Palestinian activists after word came that two Britons were behind the bombing in Tel Aviv this week. The two apparently took part in activist gatherings in Gaza.


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Next Story: U.S. Captures Regional War Commander  (AP)

More World - Middle East Stories
· Two more wanted Iraqis in US custody; Bush declares major fighting over  (AFP)
· Hamas defies roadmap, vows revenge as thousands gather for funeral  (AFP)
· US urges restraint as Israeli army stages West Bank raid  (AFP)
· Israeli army demolishes houses of militants in West Bank  (AFP)
· Powell heads to Syria looking for Middle East change  (AFP)


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