An Israeli F-16 warplane attacked the home of a senior Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip on Sunday but he escaped without injury seconds before missiles slammed into the building, Palestinian witnesses said. Five people were hurt in what some witnesses said was an attack on the home of Youssef Abed al-Wahab, a leader of the militant Hamas organisation in southern Gaza. Witnesses said Wahab bolted from the house near the town of Khan Younis immediately after hearing the sound of aircraft. The home was destroyed and four nearby buildings were damaged. Sharon calls off Cabinet chief-Powell meeting JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called off planned talks between his Cabinet chief, Dov Weisglass and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, his office said today. It said today’s meeting, which would have preceded Tuesday’s gathering in New York of top officials from the West Asia ‘‘quartet’’ — the United States, Russia, European Union, and the United Nations — had been cancelled because of Powell’s busy schedule. ‘‘Instead of sending his Cabinet chief, the Prime Minister has sent a missive to Powell in which he underlines that the Palestinian Authority has still not done anything to stop terrorism,’’ Sharon’s spokesman Raanan Gissin said. Powell, on Friday, declared Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat persona non grata, rebuffing an appeal from the Palestinian leader for an end to Israel’s reoccupation of West bank cities. (Agencies) In the West Bank, a 19-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops when they entered the Balata refugee camp, a militant bastion, to enforce a curfew in the Nablus area and were confronted by a stone-throwing crowd, witnesses said. Earlier, Israel said it had seized a Palestinian on his way out of the West Bank to commit a suicide bombing and that its soldiers must remain in Palestinian-administered areas of the territory reoccupied to prevent such attacks. ‘‘The terrorist fired at Army jeeps outside Anin village but the soldiers subdued and interrogated him,’’ an Army spokeswoman said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office said on Sunday Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would resume meetings with reform-minded Palestinian ministers ‘‘in the coming days’’ to discuss how to ease security and economic curbs on the Palestinian population. Steps to do so, urged by Peres, snagged on Saturday when Sharon suspended the dialogue upon learning that a close Arafat ally had joined one session. Sharon blames Arafat for suicide violence, demands a new Palestinian leadership ‘‘not compromised by terror’’ and has banned any Israeli contact with him or his key allies. Israeli media said Sharon, in interrupting the dialogue, was also concerned Peres was steering the talks towards peacemaking issues without Cabinet approval, something the right-wing premier says cannot be done while Arafat rules. (Reuters)
