The IDF fatally shoots a “suspicious” Palestinian nr. Tulkarm; fires on residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Bayt Furik, al-Til. In a joint AMB-PFLP operation, 2 Palestinian gunmen attack an IDF post nr. Nablus, killing 2 IDF soldiers, wounding 1 before being shot dead. An Israeli Arab stabs, lightly injures an Israeli policeman in n. Israel before being shot dead by another officer. Based on information fr. the IDF interrogation of 2 Islamic Jihad mbrs. capture in the West Bank today, Israeli police find an explosive belt in the washroom of a mosque in the Israeli-Arab town of Taibeh, which they remove and detonate. (MM, REU 2/6; VOI 2/6 in WNC 2/7; NYT, WP 2/7; HA, NYT 2/8; PR 2/12; PCHR 2/20)
Following up on the Sharon-Qurai` talks on 2/5, PA Interior M Hani al-Hassan meets secretly with Sharon chief of staff Dov Weisglass at the home of U.S. Amb. to Israel Dan Kurtzer to discuss possible resumption of Israeli-PA cease-fire talks. (HA, MM 2/10; JT, QA, al-Quds, SA 2/10 in WNC 2/11; HA, MM 2/11; PR 2/12; MEI 2/21)