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Israel Kills Two Palestinians in West Bank, Abducts A Dozen
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, May 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israeli
occupation forces killed two Palestinians in Bethlehem and a village
near Jenin Wednesday, May 22, abducted a dozen others, raided the
village of Salfit near Nablus, and closed the main road between north
and south Gaza.
Israeli
forces cut the Gaza Strip road in three and closed the main road of
the narrow coastal region at two points, which made it difficult for
Palestinian citizens to move or return to their houses.
On
the same day, Israeli border police killed a Palestinian man and
detained a dozen men in a raid on the village of Silat al-Harthiya,
northwest of Jenin. The man was allegedly carrying a sniper rifle and
a pistol and wearing an explosive belt, according to Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Islamic
Jihad identified the murdered man as Khalid Zakarna, 30, a local
leader of their armed wing, saying he was killed fighting the Israeli
forces, said AFP.
In
a separate incident near Bethlehem, Israeli border guards shot dead a
local man who failed to raise his hands when ordered, said AFP. The
Israeli forces claimed that the citizen allegedly made a
"suspicious gesture". The slain man was identified by
Palestinian sources as Mussa Abdullah Ashwani from Bethlehem.
Israeli
forces also raided the Palestinian self-rule village of Salfit,
halfway between the West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, sending
in troops in around 30 armored vehicles to abduct seven Palestinian
security force members and six intelligence officers.
Palestinian
officials said one member of the security forces was wounded in the
raid.
Israeli
troops also arrested two Palestinian police officers and a civilian in
a village near the West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron). They also
detained a young woman in the self-rule town of Tulkarem, AFP
reported.
Israeli
forces searched a small self-rule farming community east of Jericho,
briefly taking it over but leaving without making any arrests, AFP
said.
A
Palestinian teenager was killed late Tuesday, May 21, and three others
were wounded, when Israeli troops raided the Rafah refugee camp in the
southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian hospital sources said.
Meanwhile,
Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of the Palestinian Resistance Islamic
movement Hamas told the London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Hayat,
Wednesday the Palestinians need to resist Israeli occupation rather
than enact reforms tailored to U.S. and Israeli needs.
He
added that carrying out reforms on Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
Authority would be a mistake.
"The
American-tailored reforms are not in the interest of the Palestinians
... and are not currently required. Now, we need resistance, and we
need to defend ourselves against Israel," AFP quoted Sheikh
Yassin as saying.
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