GAZA - Palestinian security forces found and destroyed a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip border city of Rafah used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian areas, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. It marked the first time since President Mahmoud Abbas took office that Palestinian security forces have acted against the tunnels, which Israel repeatedly tries to locate and destroy during raids on Rafah, which abuts the border with Egypt.The announcement of the tunnel uncovering comes amid renewed signs of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on security matters aimed at restoring calm to the Palestinian areas after years of violence.
A top Israeli defence official said the sides have agreed to set up a joint committee to decide which militants on Israel's "wanted" list will still be pursued. The official, Amos Gilad, told Israel Army Radio that the formation of the committee did not mean Israel was granting clemency to the wanted men, but was freezing its hunt for them. The formation of the committee, which will likely meet for the first time next week, was agreed on at a meeting Monday night between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
However, Israel's participation in the committee still needs to be approved by a special ministerial-level forum, which is due to convene Thursday.
According to the Ha'aretz daily, under the emerging arrangements Israel will agree not to harm wanted men in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who hand in their weapons to the Palestinian Authority, sign a commitment not to get involved in any more attacks, remain in their home towns and agree to monitoring by PA security.
| And of course you can honor the word of a Hamas terrorist. |
| Who were last week's "militants". |