Israeli Tanks Reoccupy Selected Palestinian Areas

14/04/2001| IslamWeb

JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israeli tanks surged into the Palestinian-ruled village of Beit Jala near Jerusalem and the Rafah refugee camp in the GazaStrip early on Tuesday in what the occupation army claimed were reprisal raids for earlier attacks.The occupation army sent in the tanks, bulldozers and armored vehicles a day after assassinating Abu Ali Mustafa, a Resistance Palestinian leader it accused of masterminding bomb attacks, in a missile attack which prompted criticism by the United States.
Witnesses said at least four tanks armed with heavy machineguns and several armored vehicles entered Beit Jala under cover of darkness after heavy shooting from the village at the nearby internationally illegal Jewish settlement of Gilo.
There was sporadic shooting as the tanks rolled into Beit Jala close to the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Resistance men have often fired from Beit Jala during the 11-month-old Palestinian revolt against Israeli occupation.
There was no immediate word of casualties in the village.
The occupation army said in a statement that the present operation would be limited, and was in response to Monday's shooting on Gilo in which one Israeli was wounded, and Palestinian sniper fire at Israeli drivers on a stretch of West Bank road.
Witnesses said two bulldozers and the tanks pushed some 70 to 80 yards into Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
At least eight people were wounded in a fierce gunfight and at least 10 buildings were destroyed before the occupation army started to withdraw about two hours later, they said.
Hospital officials said eight people were hurt and witnesses said at least seven houses were destroyed.
Israel radio reported that occupation forces also entered the Palestinian village of Beit Sahour near Beit Jala but the report could not be confirmed.
REPRISALS
Israel has carried out several raids into Palestinian areas in the past few weeks in apparent reprisal for Palestinian reprisals to Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian territory and collective punishment after each and every Resistance operation against occupation.
Palestinian witnesses reported shooting exchanges elsewhere in the Gaza Strip overnight, including near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.
At least 537 Palestinians, 155 Israelis and 14 Israeli Arabs have now been killed in intifadha, uprising, confrontations since last September.Palestinian anger mounted after the killing on Monday of Mustafa, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He died instantly in an assassination missile attack on his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Thousands of Palestinians were expected to attend his funeral in the West Bank on Tuesday.
The Palestinian Authority declared three days of national mourning and said that Israel ``by this sinful crime...has set the stage for a full-scale, unlimited war.'' PFLP and other Palestinian Resistance groups vowed to escalate attacks on Israeli targets.
Within hours of the assassination, the PFLP claimed responsibility for killing 38-year-old Jewish settler Meir Lichsenberg near Ramallah in a revenge attack.
Israeli police reported several shooting incidents at Israelis late on Monday, as well as several gunbattles.
INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION
Mustafa 's killing followed two days of bloodshed in which seven Israelis and four Palestinians were killed.
Palestinians said Mustafa was the most senior Palestinian political leader killed by Israel since Khalil Wazir, better known as Abu Jihad, was assassinated in Tunis in 1988.
The US State Department said such killings were inflaming the Middle East conflict and called on Israel to alleviate ``the pressure, the hardship and the humiliations of the Palestinian people.''
``We think Israel needs to understand that targeted killings of Palestinians don't end the uprising, but are only inflaming an already volatile situation and making it much harder to restore calm,'' spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing in Washington.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa accused Israel of engaging in ``Mafia politics.'' Belgium, holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, said it was a ``very serious act'' and urged both sides to halt what it calls violence and restore dialogue.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Israeli occupation soldiers prepare their tanks before they start to enter the West Bank town of Beit Jala early morning August 28, 2001. Israeli tanks thrusts into the Palestinian-ruled Arab village near Jerusalem and into Rafah refugee camp in Gaza after a day of bloodshed in which Israel killed a leading Palestinian Resistance leader. (Nati Shohat/Flash 90 via Reuters)
- Aug 27 10:44 PM ET