Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 22 December 2003 — Israeli troops conducted a series of raids in the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday, arresting a Hamas leader and killing a 5-year-old Palestinian boy, Palestinian witnesses said.

Also yesterday, the Israeli Army destroyed five houses in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

The violence came amid efforts to arrange a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers. The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Saturday that the summit could take place as soon as this week.

Officials have been trying for several weeks to arrange such a meeting. Both sides have expressed a desire to meet to rejuvenate efforts to implement the stalled road map peace plan, which envisions an immediate end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that if the Palestinians did not make serious peace moves in the next few months, Israel would impose its own boundary on them. Palestinians oppose an imposed solution, which would leave them with far less land than they want for a future state, saying that only a negotiated agreement can bring peace.

Sharon also faces opposition within his own Likud party, since he has said his plan would involve dismantling some Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz said yesterday that he would demand a debate on Sharon’s proposals at a Likud meeting early next month.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, is scheduled to arrive in Israel today in what he has said is an effort to persuade the Israeli government to push forward with the road map.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry official said yesterday that Maher would be meeting Sharon, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and President Moshe Katsav. No meetings are planned with the Palestinian side, the official added.

In Nablus, troops arrested Adnan Asfour of Hamas, said his brother Said Asfour. Adnan Asfour is a prominent spokesman for the group in the West Bank.

Troops surrounded the brothers’ apartment building early yesterday and called on all the residents of the five-story building to come out before arresting Adnan, Said Asfour said.

Later yesterday, an Israeli soldier shot and killed a 5-year-old Palestinian boy in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, witnesses and hospital officials said. Hospital officials said the boy, Mohammed Al-Araj, was killed by a bullet to the chest.