MIDDLE EAST: Israel's Foreign Minister told the Palestinian Authority yesterday that an unofficial three-week period of grace was over and that the time had come for it to start dismantling and disarming militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem.
The comments, by Mr Silvan Shalom, came just hours after an Israeli was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in Tel Aviv, in what was the first attack inside Israel since armed groups declared a truce on June 29th.
Mr Shalom said he had detected "sparks of activity" by the Palestinian Authority to combat armed groups, as the road map peace plan requires. But he said he expected far more: "There was a kind of quiet understanding that they would have three weeks or so to get organised.
"Those three weeks end this weekend. There have been a few signs of activity but there's not the sort of action that's required."
The attack began in the early hours of yesterday morning when a Palestinian wielding a knife tried to force his way into the Tarabin restaurant on the Tel Aviv seaside promenade.
He was blocked by a security guard at the entrance who he stabbed in the neck, injuring him moderately.
The owner of the restaurant then began hitting the Palestinian, a 23-year-old resident from east Jerusalem, with a chair until he fled. The attacker ran along the promenade, knife in hand, with a security guard from a nearby restaurant in pursuit. Along the way he stabbed a young man, Amir Simhon (24), who later died in hospital. The assailant was apprehended by police after a man eating in a nearby restaurant, who had also given chase, shot him in the leg with the gun belonging to the pursuing security guard.
Responsibility was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, associated with Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah party.
While the Al Aqsa Brigades have joined the truce, the militia is not a tight-knit unit and some renegade groups have rejected the decision to halt attacks on Israel. Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the attack.