Palestinian-Israeli committee on wanted militants to convene Sunday

A joint Palestinian-Israeli committee on wanted militants will meet on Sunday, a senior Palestinian official said Saturday.

Abdel Fatah Hamayel, head of the Palestinian side in the committee, said in a press statement that the meeting, held at the request of Israel, will focus on issues of Palestinian militants wanted by Israel.

The committee was formed after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a ceasefire at the Feb. 8 Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt.

Hamayel said 110 wanted Palestinian militants have been merged into the Palestinian security apparatuses in the West Bank cities of Tulkarem and Jericho, whose security controls have been transferred to the Palestinian side.

Israel promised at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit to hand over five West Bank cities to the Palestinian control, but the handover of the left three was suspended due to what Israel said a Palestinian failure to rein in militants in Tulkarem and Jericho.

Israel refuses to hold any final-status talks with the Palestinians unless the latter disarms militants.

In a separate development, Palestinian preventive security apparatus discovered a new tunnel near the southern Gaza town of Rafah and destroyed it, security sources said Saturday.

The tunnel, 14 meters deep and 700 meters long, was dug under the borderline between Gaza and Egypt, the sources said.

The Palestinian security apparatuses have demolished more than 10 tunnels in Rafah. Israel has accused the Palestinian militants of using underground tunnels in the area to smuggle arms from Egypt into Gaza.

Source: Xinhua