MIDDLE EAST: Bowing to strong US pressure, Israel yesterday agreed to complete preparations for operating bus convoys for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which will start next week.
In Gaza City, four Palestinian militants were killed yesterday when an Israeli aircraft fired missiles at the car in which they were travelling.
The Israeli army said the four were on the way to carry out an attack.
The decision to begin operating the West Bank-Gaza "safe passage" is a reversal of a decision by the Israeli government last week, following a suicide bombing in the coastal town of Netanya, to freeze the bus convoys until the Palestinian Authority takes steps to improve security.
The Americans, who brokered the convoy deal in November, have been insistent that the arrangement - initially scheduled to begin today - goes into effect without further delays.
"We fully expect Israel and the Palestinians to implement all aspects of the movement agreement on schedule and we will help them to do so," David Welch, the US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, was quoted as telling a conference of donors to the Palestinian Authority, held in London yesterday.
The convoys are part of efforts at improving the economic lot of the Palestinians, by facilitating movement between the West Bank and Gaza.
In Gaza, Israeli missiles ripped into a white Subaru in which four members of the Popular Resistance Committees were travelling, killing them instantly. Several hours later, a senior Islamic Jihad activist escaped another aerial strike in Gaza.
The strikes came as chaos spread within the ruling Fatah party, which is trying to establish its list ahead of parliamentary elections on January 25th. Fatah militants yesterday burst into party headquarters in Gaza in protest over what they said were attempts to pack the list with corrupt members of the party's old guard.