|
Israeli Army Enters West Bank Cities, Abducts 14 Palestinians
 |
|
Israeli
re-occupies Jenin, declares it a "closed military
zone" |
JENIN,
West Bank, May 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli
occupation army early Tuesday, May 28, entered the Palestinian
autonomous town of Jenin in the north of the West Bank, Palestinian
security officials said, news agencies reported.
Shooting
broke out as Israeli armored units backed up by helicopters rolled
into Jenin, the officials said. It was not immediately known if there
were victims, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
An
army spokesman confirmed the incursion and said six Palestinians
wanted for "terrorist activities" had been abducted in
Jenin, which he declared a "closed military zone."
The
spokesman also announced the abduction of eight other Palestinians in
the West Bank including two in Hebron, two in Beit Jala near
Bethlehem, two at Azzun near Qalqilya and two in the village of Beit
Anan north of Jerusalem.
All
those abducted were handed over to the internal security service Shin
Beth for interrogation, the spokesman said.
Hours
before the incursion, a Palestinian resistance fighter killed two
Israelis, in a bomb attack on a shopping mall in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The
attack in Petah Tiqvah was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an
armed offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group
which has refused to heed the Palestinian leadership's appeals for an
end to martyr operations.
The
Palestinian leadership denounced the blast, saying "it gives the
Israeli army reasons to continue their aggression and
occupation."
The
attack came after the army pulled out of the nearby West Bank town of
Qalqilya and followed an Israeli re-occupation of Bethlehem, south of
Jerusalem, in a sweep for alleged “militants”.
Meanwhile
the army still encircled Tulkarem, north of Qalqilya, which it had
occupied on Sunday, May 26, while Palestinians also reported raids in
Hebron and four nearby villages, where dozens were taken prisoner.
The
army said it was "operating in the Bethlehem sector to hit the
infrastructures of terrorism and preserve the gains of Operation
Defensive Wall", a massive military offensive Israel launched
against the Palestinians in the West Bank at the end of March.
|
