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Palestinians
inspect rubble of a metal workshop hit by Israeli helicopters in
Khan Yunis
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GAZA
CITY, November 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli forces
have launched attacks Sunday, November 17, in the Gaza Strip and West
Bank after the Al-Khalil (Hebron) resistance attack which killed 12
Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers on Friday, November 15.
Early
Sunday three Israeli helicopter gunships carried out a raid on Khan
Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said.
That
action followed an Israeli military operation late Saturday, November
16, in which troops re-occupied the divided southern West Bank city of
Al-Khalil in the first response to the Friday shooting attack, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Some
40 Israeli armored personnel carriers and jeeps rolled into various
parts of Al-Khalil, Palestinian residents told AFP, adding that they had
taken over a Palestinian police station and at least one house.
“The
army is going back into the places that it left a few weeks ago,” an
Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed.
Troops
had evacuated the flashpoint city, where some 600 radical Jewish
settlers live among 120,000 Palestinians, three weeks ago.
Teams
of soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in the city earlier in the
day, abducting 41 Palestinians, including four wanted men, the Israeli
army said.
They
also bulldozed three buildings used by Islamic Jihad fighters during the
Friday shooting attack.
In
Sunday’s military action in the Gaza Strip, helicopters fired at least
four missiles at a large electricity generator in Khan Yunis, completely
destroying it and cutting all the electricity to the surrounding area,
Palestinian sources said.
Abdul
Karim Abu Salah, a spokesman for the Palestinian Legislative Council
(PLC), said the helicopters also fired 12 missiles at two metal
workshops in the village of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, destroying
them and injuring four people.
There
was serious fire damage in the area, he added.
An
army spokeswoman confirmed the strike, but claimed Israeli air force
helicopters had destroyed only a workshop, which produced weapons.
Meanwhile,
a 65-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops near the
West Bank town of Qalqilya Saturday, November 16, Palestinian security
sources said.
Moussa
Mahariq from Azzun Atma village, some eight kilometers (five miles)
south of Qalqilya, died after being hit by three bullets fired by
Israeli troops, they said.
It
was not initially clear why he was shot, nor what he was doing at the
time.
The
Israeli army said it was not aware of any death but would check.
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Israeli
soldiers covered by armored personnel carrier move into
Palestinian-controlled areas in Al-Khalil |
Also,
four Palestinians were moderately injured in the northern West Bank town
of Tulkarem Saturday after Israeli troops fired on stone-throwers,
Palestinian security sources said.
Two
of the injured were 14 years old, and a third was a 24-year-old man,
they said, but it was not immediately clear who was throwing the stones.
The
fourth was a 45-year-old man who was driving his car at the time, they
said.
The
Israeli army said it would check for details of the incident.
The
shooting came four days after the Israeli army raided Tulkarem refugee
camp following an attack on a nearby kibbutz that left five Israelis
dead.
At
the same time, troops destroyed the house of the alleged organizer of
the kibbutz attack, a member of Fatah movement.
The
Israeli army has already re-occupied most of the West Bank since June.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was reported to have given the army the
green light to increase pressure on the occupied territories following
Friday night’s attack.
Sharon
met with his Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and accepted an army proposal
for harsher measures in the Palestinian territories, public radio said,
including the re-occupation of Palestinian areas from where resistance
fighters launch attacks, arresting those involved and destroying their
houses.
Israel’s
hard-line Interior Security Minister Uzi Landau called for the
dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and destruction of parts of
Al-Khalil following the shooting, in which 14 soldiers or border police
were also wounded.
Mofaz
and Sharon were to meet Sunday before the weekly cabinet meeting to
consider how to respond to the Palestinian attack, Israeli radio said.
Mofaz
and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke by phone with U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell about the ambush attack, stressing
Israel’s need to crack down on Palestinians in the divided city.
Israeli
Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Sunday to expel
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and out his regime if what he termed
as Palestinian terrorism continues.
“I
have explained that if the terrorism continues, Arafat will be expelled
and that his regime will be ended,” Netanyahu said on Israeli public
radio.
“The
right moment for his expulsion will be decided by a select group,”
added hawkish Netanyahu, who plans to stand for the prime minister’s
post against incumbent Premier Sharon.
“All
the accords agreed by Israel (with the Palestinians) have been annulled
by Arafat himself.
“I
have always believed that the application of accords requires
reciprocity,” Netanyahu claimed.
“We
have to adopt an offensive policy and eradicate terrorism or at least
marginalize it.
“We
are going to cleanse the whole area and do the work ourselves,” he
added.
