ISRAEL: The Palestinian Authority yesterday asked Israel to issue travel permits for all members of the Palestinian legislature and the PLO's Central Council to travel to Ramallah for meetings to approve Yasser Arafat's choice for prime minister - a new position the Palestinian president has reluctantly agreed to create under intense international pressure.
On the ground, violence raged on, with three Palestinians, one a nine-year-old boy, killed by Israeli troops in two separate incidents in the Gaza Strip.
Before agreeing to issue travel permits, Israeli officials said they were reviewing the names of the 124 members of the Central Council, which is to convene on March 10th, and the 88 members of the parliament, scheduled to meet on March 12th. Those members deemed by Israel to be involved in attacks on its civilians, indicated Mr Raanan Gissin, a senior aide to Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, would not be issued travel permits.
Shortly after midnight yesterday, Israeli troops backed by armoured vehicles thrust into the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza, and destroyed four structures the army said were used by gunmen to fire at military positions located in Jewish settlements in the Strip. The Palestinians said that one of the demolished structures was an eight-story building and that dozens of people were left homeless. The army insisted that three of the buildings were abandoned.
The dead included a gunman, aged 27, and a 50-year-old man killed in the crossfire as troops and Palestinian gunmen engaged in street battles.
The nine-year-old boy died of gunshot wounds sustained while attending the funeral of the two men killed in the Israeli raid. Doctors said the boy was apparently hit after gunmen fired in the air at the cemetery, which is near a Jewish settlement, drawing fire from Israeli soldiers.