Truce Shaky after Israelis Kill Hamas Man

GAZA CITY - The militant Palestinian group, Hamas, has vowed that it will 'not stay silent' after one of its followers was killed yesterday during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank town of Nablus.

The killing could scupper hopes of a truce called by militant groups being extended, a Palestinian minister said.

Culture Minister Ziad Abu Amr said he had reached a 'very positive' position in talks in the past few days with groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad about extending their three-month truce, which was announced on June 29. But Hamas attached a raft of conditions to the truce, including 'an immediate halt to all types of Zionist aggressions'.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,203889,00.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep-the cease fire is on the way to collapse.

Predictable results, too.

Amid cease-fire, Israelis raid suspected bomb lab

snip

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) Israeli troops battled gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas early today in a raid on a suspected bomb lab that killed one soldier and two militants after a month of relative calm in the region.

The firefight in the Askar refugee camp came as an Israeli official said the course of a security barrier might be altered to encompass less West Bank land than initially planned.

The U.S. government has criticized the barrier, a small section of which has been completed and whose planned route would cut deep into the West Bank in some areas to encompass several large Jewish settlements. Israel says it needs the barrier to deter Palestinian militants, but Palestinians say Israel is unilaterally drawing a border.

The Bush administration is considering deducting the money Israel spends on the barrier from $9 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, but Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that a decision has not yet been made.

Today’s gun battle in the Askar refugee camp, next to the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was not expected to derail a cease-fire declared by the main Palestinian groups June 29, although a Hamas leader said the raid violated the truce.

more...

http://www.showmenews.com/2003/Aug/20030808News020.asp