|
Israel Waging "Dirty War" Against Palestinians: Abdel Rahman
 |
| Israel launched deadly raids last Thursday into the two West Bank camps where more than 20 Palestinians were killed. |
GAZA CITY, March 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli government is waging a "dirty war" against the Palestinian people, who have the right to retaliate, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday.
"Sharon has started a dirty war against the Palestinian people ... who have the right to defend themselves," Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abdel Rahman said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
He dismissed Israeli accusations suggesting that Palestinian president Yasser Arafat has given out orders to Palestinian groups to launch a "terrorist offensive" against Israel.
"Before accusing Arafat, Sharon must ask himself who gave the orders to the (Israeli) tanks and helicopters to open fire on the Balata and Jenin refugee camps to kill Palestinian women and children," Abdel Rahman said.
Israel launched Thursday deadly raids into the two West Bank camps, saying it was hunting for Palestinian activists. More than 20 Palestinians were killed, prompting retaliatory attacks by Palestinian groups, which have killed a similar number of Israelis, AFP said.
Israeli government sources, described the Israeli raids as successful, saying that in addition to the seizure of armaments and the destruction of several workshops for the production of bombs and rockets, it had an "important effect" by destroying the myth that the camps were "cities of refuge", Israeli sources said, Israel’s Ha’aretz daily online reported.
The sources described the operation as the "new outline of the war on terror" that the Israeli hawkish premier Ariel Sharon announced following a meeting of the security cabinet 10 days ago, and said similar operations would be carried out in the future, if necessary.
Israel "is destroying every chance for peace with the Palestinian people," Abdel Rahman said.
Arafat's top political advisor Nabil Abu Rudeina, meanwhile, asked Israel to "pull out its troops from the Palestinian territories immediately and begin serious negotiations to stop the war".
The Israeli occupation army, meanwhile, closed Sunday the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, stranding 1,000 Palestinians waiting to cross on either side, a Palestinian security source said.
"The Israeli army closed the Rafah border post. One thousand Palestinians are stranded on either side," the source said.
Muslim pilgrims returning from the hajj, the pilgrimage to the holy sites in Saudi Arabia, were mostly among those stuck, the sources said.
In its continuous aggression, the Israeli cabinet decided to stop the construction of a controversial mosque next to one of Christianity's holy sites in the northern town of Nazareth, cabinet secretary Gideon Saar told reporters.
The measure was adopted by 18 votes to one in cabinet, based on the findings of an inter-ministerial panel tasked with finding a solution on the mosque, which was set to be erected next to the Basilica of the Annunciation.
“The government should offer seven other possible sites for the construction of the Muslim place or worship,” Saar said.
The panel's recommendation was approved by five of its six members, including Housing Minister Nathan Sharansky, Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, and Sallah Tarif, in charge of the Arab minority in Israel, AFP reported.
The government decided in January to halt work on the mosque, a project first approved in 1999 and has caused tension between Muslims and Christian churches in Nazareth, the largest Arab city in the occupied territories.
Nazareth's Muslims want to build the mosque on the site of the tomb of Shihab Eddin, a relative of Kurdish warrior Saladdin, who freed Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century.
Meanwhile in Nablus, Two members of the Palestinian intelligence services were shot dead Sunday during a brief incursion by two Israeli tanks into the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya, Palestinian security and hospital sources said.
Khaled Sawalha, 24, and Islam Shawahna, 26, were killed by Israeli fire during the operation in the autonomous Palestinian town, close to the border with Israel, the sources said.
The two deaths raise to 1,338 the number of people killed since Al-Aqsa intifada, or uprising, broke out in September 2000, including 1,011 Palestinians – the majority is children and teenagers – and 304 Israelis
|
