According to Palestinian sources, early Friday morning, not long after Ahmed Qureia met with the Israeli negotiating team in Jerusalem, an IDF force killed one of his bodyguards.
Qureia, chief Palestinian negotiator, attended an Israeli-Palestinian summit
Thursday in Jerusalem, in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also took part. Just hours later, PA sources reported IDF military activity in Bitunia, a town south of Ramallah. The IDF soldiers saw Mu'atasam Sharif al-Mahdi, a member of Fatah and the Presidential Guard, and opened fire on him, apparently because of his handgun.
The incident was the first in months in which a Fatah member was killed by IDF fire in the Ramallah area.
A Palestinian security official strongly condemned the killing, saying "Israel has proven once more that it does not want the security plan the Palestinian Authority is implementing in the West Bank to succeed. Israel does not want stability in the West Bank."
During the meeting in Jerusalem the Palestinians raised concerns over the possibility that Israel would expand construction in Har Homa and other settlements, while Israeli negotiators demanded that the Palestinians rein in terror elements in the West Bank.
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed that the sides would refrain from taking any steps that would hinder efforts to reach a permanent peace agreement, but Olmert did not guarantee Abbas that Israel would not build in Har Homa.
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