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Palestinian youths and a paramedic carry Aweja to a waiting ambulance after he was shot by Israeli soldiers
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NABLUS,
West Bank, November 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli
army gunned down two Palestinians Thursday, November 14, in Gaza and
Nablus, and abducted 35 others at a Ramadan evening gathering in
Ramallah.
In
Nablus, 17-year-old Jalal Aweja was killed when Israeli soldiers in
tanks retaliated stone-throwing by opening fire at Palestinians,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Palestinian medical sources as
saying.
The
Israeli military operation underway in the northern West Bank town of
Nablus, involving 150 armored vehicles, was planned a month ago, AFP
quoted a senior Israeli army as saying Friday, November 15.
"This
operation was prepared one month ago, and in my view we are going to
stay there for a long time, much longer than we stayed in Jenin, as it
is an operation of a different scale," said the source, who did
not wish to be named.
Israeli
occupation troops entered Nablus Wednesday, November 13, in an
apparent preparation for an operation similar to a methodical two-week
sweep of Jenin that ended Saturday, November 8, with the killing of an
Islamic Jihad chief accused of masterminding anti-Israeli attacks.
"The
town of Nablus has been placed under curfew until further notice, but
obviously we want to avoid any clash with the civilian
population," he said.
"I
intend meeting representatives of the population to work out with them
ways of solving problems that come up, on a humanitarian level, for
medical questions and water and electricity supplies", he said.
Israeli
tanks also Thursday staged a brief raid near the Gaza City home of the
spiritual leader of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, Sheikh
Ahmad Yassein.
Although
the Israeli army said it will opt for fewer spectacular raids, about
20 tanks also entered Gaza City early Thursday and opened fire,
wounding at least three Palestinian policemen, Palestinian security
sources said.
The
raid took place just 200 meters (yards) from Yassin's house, but there
was no indication it was aimed at intimidating the Hamas leader.
Also
in Gaza, Israeli troops shot dead Khaled Abu Hilal, 36, in Rafah
refugee camp, near the Egyptian border in an area of frequent clashes,
Palestinian security sources said.
The
United States has demanded Israel keep a low profile while Washington
prepares for a possible military offensive against Iraq.
But
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is campaigning for
re-election, told troops in the area Thursday that the army's
operations were in no way restricted.
"There
is no pressure on Israel," Sharon told public radio during a
visit.
In
the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Israeli army abducted 35
Palestinian at a Ramadan evening gathering, Palestinian security
sources said.
Troops
from a special unit burst into a hall where almost 800 people were
gathered for a communal "iftar", the meal which breaks the
fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, they said.
After
almost four hours of identity checks, the Israeli soldiers detained 35
of the participants, the sources said, adding the army had imposed a
curfew on the surrounding area.
Most
of the iftar participants were students from a nursing school.
The
Ramallah iftar was organized by Al-Huda, an Islamic organization which
supports families of Palestinian victims killed during the
two-year-old Intifada against Israeli occupation.
The
Israeli army claimed in a statement that 17 wanted activists of the
Islamic resistance movement Hamas were rounded up in Ramallah and
nearby Bir Zeit.
As
Israel continued its operations, U.S. envoy David Satterfield left the
Palestinian territories to discuss the new roadmap for peace in the
region with officials of the Middle East Quartet committee in Amman.
After
his meetings with Palestinian officials Wednesday in Jericho, the
State Department envoy was upbeat, and top Palestinian negotiator Saeb
Erakat said he hoped a final draft of the plan would be ready before
Christmas.
The
plan, supported by the United States, United Nations, European Union
and Russia, calls for a Palestinian state with provisional borders by
next year and definitive ones by 2005.
Nine
top Arab diplomats will meet in Damascus on November 20-21 to forge a
joint stand on the U.S.-drafted roadmap for peace, a source at the
Cairo-based Arab League said Thursday.
In
an interview with Israel's Channel Two television Wednesday, Sharon
said a Palestinian state was a "fait accompli" and that he
was ready to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.
As
the race heats up with his hard-line rival, Foreign Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, for the right-wing Likud party leadership, Sharon has
successfully fashioned himself into the government's leading moderate.
Only
two weeks remain until primaries that will decide who leads the
right-wing party to Israel's general election on January 28.
An
opinion poll published Thursday predicts that Likud will dominate the
next parliament, doubling its number of seats from 19 to 38, while
Labor's presence will plunge from 25 to 19, its lowest level ever.
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