Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas canceled a trip to United States for the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly next week, following the brutal murder of a former high-ranking security official. Israeli officials are concerned by a growing power struggle between the PA and militants groups in the Strip, which peaked with the assassination of former security chief Moussa Arafat early Wednesday morning. Arafat, a cousin of the late Palestinian president, was shot in the back of the head at point blank range after about 80 men stormed his Gaza city house and dragged him outside. Abbas vowed to find the perpetrators and the Palestinian Authority has launched an investigation into the killing. The group which initially said it had carried out the killing withdrew its claim of responsibility yesterday. âAfter a thorough investigation into the issue of assassinating General Arafat we announce that we are not responsible for the assassination or kidnapping his son,â said a leaflet signed by the group and sent to reporters yesterday.| "We've changed our minds. It wasn't us. That was somebody else we bumped off, and that young fellow in the basement is somebody else's kid... |
The Israeli Army launched a clean-up operation yesterday, with 1,500 soldiers sent to the evacuated settlements to collect waste. The soldiers combed public buildings and synagogues â the only buildings that have not been demolished â for any equipment or items of value left behind, an army spokeswoman said. The army also closed the Rafah border passage between Gaza and Egypt, ahead of transferring control of the terminal to the Egyptians and the deployment of Egyptian troops along the so-called Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Egypt border. Under an Egyptian compromise proposal, the Rafah terminal will remain closed for six months of repairs, and people and goods will leave and enter the Gaza Strip to and from Egypt via the Israeli terminals at Kerem Shalom and Nitzana.