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Israeli Forces Storm Village Near Nablus, Arafat Appeals to G8 to “End Occupation”
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| In
Al-Khalil, Israeli forces, backed by tanks and helicopter
gunships, bulldozed Friday a PA building housing
administrative and security offices.
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NABLUS,
West Bank, June 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli
occupation forces abducted 10 Palestinian
men
Friday, June 28,
2002
, after storming a
village outside the
West Bank
town of
Nablus
with tank and
helicopter gunship backup, as Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat appealed to G8 leaders meeting in
Canada
to "end the
Israeli occupation" and bring about a ceasefire.
Raed
Amer, the head of a prisoners' rights association linked to Arafat's Palestinian
Authority, was among those seized in Azmout, just east of
Nablus
, witnesses told
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
By mid-morning, abductions were still underway, they said.
Occupation forces entered the village early Friday spilling
out of around 20 jeeps while tanks surrounded the community and a
helicopter gunship provided air cover, firing in the vicinity, AFP
reported.
The
Israeli army has almost reoccupied the entire
West Bank
, with seven out of
eight main cities seized since last week. The only
West Bank
town left
untouched is
Jericho
.
In all the reoccupied cities, the Israeli army imposed
curfews and carried out arbitrary arrests.
Meanwhile
in Al-Khalil (
Hebron
), Israeli troops
used a bulldozer Friday to smash their way into a Palestinian
Authority building, as besieged Palestinians
holed up inside the local offices of the Palestinian President
maintained their resistance despite heavy fire from Israeli tanks and
helicopter gunships.
As the siege of the "Moqataa" that houses
Al-Khalil’s administrative and security offices entered its fourth
day, soldiers with a heavy-duty armored bulldozer tore at the huge
edifice, AFP correspondents said.
The bulldozer rammed into the main entrance to widen a
gaping hole in a wall some 100-meters (yards) wide that they made the
previous day, and forces also tried to break down a side wall of the
huge building, including with heavy gunfire, they said.
However, there were no signs of surrender on the part of
the besieged Palestinians
despite ultimatums broadcast over loudspeakers.
The
Israeli occupation forces are trying to flush out between 15 and 20
Palestinians holed up inside since
Israel
moved into
Al-Khalil Tuesday, June 26, as part of a widescale
West Bank
offensive.
Residents said at least four rockets and loud explosions
were heard Friday morning after a night of relative calm.
Meanwhile,
Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat appealed Friday to G8 leaders meeting in
Canada
to "end the
Israeli occupation" and bring about a ceasefire.
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|
The
Israeli army has reoccupied 7 out of 8 main
West Bank
cities.
|
"We call on the G8 to immediately finish the Israeli
occupation and aggression and to stop the siege," a statement
from Arafat's office said, according to AFP.
"We are completely ready to protect the peace process
and we call on the G8 to prepare a ceasefire and send international
observers immediately to the Palestinian
territories," it added.
The
urgent appeal was issued shortly after the Group of Eight summit wound
up in
Kananaskis
,
Canada
, and the leaders
of
Britain
,
Canada
,
France
,
Germany
,
Italy
,
Japan
,
Russia
and the
United States
started to head
for home.
"We
give assurances again that we are against terrorism which hurts both
Israeli and Palestinian
citizens, and we ask the G8 to rebuild the foundations of our security
services [destroyed by
Israel
] ... so we can
make peace with
Israel
," the Palestinian
statement added.
World leaders at the two-day summit have been sharply
divided over the fate of Arafat as U.S. President George W. Bush laid
out his vision of Middle
East
policy at the start of the summit, effectively calling on the
Palestinians to ditch their leader.
None
of the Europeans backed Bush's call, outlined in a speech Monday, for
Arafat to be replaced as a condition for
U.S.
support for a Palestinian
state, insisting that it was up to the Palestinian
to choose who led them.
"There is a need to reform the Palestinian
Authority but that does not mean that Arafat has to go," a
European official said on condition of anonymity.
"We are not going to tell Arafat to go."
Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien stopped short of endorsing the call for
Arafat's ouster, saying: "I don't have a specific point of view
on that."
German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder bluntly made clear that Arafat was still
in the picture.
"As
long as he is the President ... he remains our interlocutor,"
Schroeder told German television, the morning after Arafat's fate
preoccupied G8 leaders at a working dinner.
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| "We
call on the G8 to prepare a ceasefire and send international
observers immediately to the Palestinian territories,"
Arafat’s statement said.
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Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, however, backed Bush: "Many
people are convinced that Arafat, a winner of the Nobel peace prize,
should make a generous gesture and move aside… If I were President
Arafat, I would make a grand gesture that would enable him to go down
forever in history as the man who gave everything for the freedom of
his country."
Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also supported Bush’s initiative.
Palestinian
elections are to be held in January, and Arafat is sure to win.
On
Friday, a senior Israeli official, who declined to be identified, told
AFP that without
U.S.
support Arafat was "finished" and described the European
position in support of the veteran Palestinian leader as an
"anachronism." 
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