Marching in formation and jumping through flaming hoops, Palestinian forces prepared Monday to assume control in Tulkarem, the first of five West Bank towns to be handed over by Israel as part of a truce to end four years of bloodshed. With negotiations in the final stages, Palestinian forces in Tulkarem stepped up preparations for the handover. Dozens of troops in military fatigues marched in formation and conducted calisthenic drills and martial-arts exercises at an abandoned dirt lot. At one point, the soldiers formed a human pyramid and cried out "Jerusalem is ours!" Later, the soldiers sprinted and jumped headfirst through a smoldering hoop lined with a flaming cloth.| The Not-Ready-For-Cirque-du-Soleil Players. |
In a setback for peace efforts, Palestinian militants wounded two Israeli border policemen, one seriously, in a shooting attack on a military post in the West Bank city of Hebron. The shooting took place near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a shrine revered by both Muslims and Jews.
