Israel, Jordan Leaders Do Lunch
Jordan's King Abdullah and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held a secret meeting at the Israeli leader's ranch to discuss Sharon's proposal to withdraw unilaterally from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said Friday.
Abdullah flew by helicopter Thursday to the ranch in southern Israel, where the two men held a three-hour lunch meeting, according to Israeli media reports. Sharon's disengagement plan has raised concerns in Jordan, which neighbors the West Bank and has a large Palestinian population.
Officials say Abdullah warned that unilateral steps could lead to an exodus of Palestinians to Jordan, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. Half of Jordan's population is already Palestinian, and an influx of more Palestinians would change the country's demographics.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the leaders met, but would not say what they discussed. Jordanian officials declined comment.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops raided a Palestinian farming community Friday near the Israeli settlement of Netzarim in Gaza. Ten Palestinians and four soldiers were wounded in subsequent fighting, according to army and Palestinian reports. Three of the Palestinians were in critical condition, including two boys, ages 12 and 15, and a 29-year-old man.
At least one of the boys was wounded when soldiers in a tank fired at a crowd of stone throwers.
Israel launched a new offensive into Gaza this week following a twin suicide bombing in the Israeli seaport of Ashdod that killed 10 Israelis. Israel has also been stepping up activity in Gaza ahead of a possible withdrawal from the area.
Sharon has proposed withdrawing from much of Gaza and parts of the West Bank if peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled. Israel also is building a separation barrier in the West Bank, which it says blocks suicide bombers.
The plans to build the security fence have strained relations between the two neighbors, which signed a peace agreement in 1994. Jordan helped lead international opposition to the barrier last month in a case before the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands.
During his meeting with Abdullah, Sharon promised the king that Israel would continue to guard the border crossings with Jordan, the Yediot Ahronot daily said. Sharon also assured the king that Israel would do everything to ensure the integrity of Jordan, it said.
The meeting was Sharon's first with an Arab leader since last June. They also met secretly on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it was reported.
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the Hamas militant group, called the reported meeting a "real disaster."
"They are busy with meetings and normalization with the enemy, while they pretend they are acting in the interest of the Palestinian people," Yassin told The Associated Press. "The truth is, this nation is being bought and sold. This nation must instead be liberated by all Arab nations."
Yassin also accused Israel of stepping up its activity in Gaza in a futile attempt to claim victory ahead of a pullout. "They want to cover up for their mess and loss. The resistance is the only thing that made them think to leave the Gaza Strip," he said.
In Friday's fighting, about 25 army vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers, raided the Mughraka village near Netzarim. Apache helicopters firing machine guns flew overhead.
Dr. Moawia Hassanen of the Palestinian Health Ministry said 10 Palestinians were wounded, three of them critically. They included a 12-year-old boy shot in the head, and a 15-year-old boy shot in the neck.
The army said the four soldiers were lightly wounded when militants detonated a bomb under a tank. Later, Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing. The army also said it had arrested two Hamas militants and blown up their homes.
Local officials said Israeli bulldozers rolling into the center of the town destroyed four additional homes and ripped up the main road, damaging water pipes and cutting off electricity. The army denied wrecking any other homes, and said it had no information of damage to the local infrastructure.
Troops pulled out Friday afternoon, residents said.
Meanwhile, in Rafah, Ayman Abu Hashem, 23, died of wounds sustained during an Israeli raid Wednesday, hospital officials said. The army had raided the area in search of tunnels its says are used to smuggle weapons from across the Egyptian border.
In all, eight Palestinians have been killed and nearly 40 have been wounded in the Gaza offensive.
In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Israeli forces destroyed the house of Jamil Hamid, a militant the army said was involved in a suicide bombing last year that injured four Israelis in the settlement of Efrat.