Israeli tanks blow up the house

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, September 22 (IslamOnline.net) - Israeli troops killed a leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil Monday, September 22, and demolished the house from where the killed man opened fire on the troops.

Large Israeli occupation troops, backed by tanks and bulldozers, swept into the southern part of Al-Khalil at dawn, surrounded a house wherein Basel Qawasmeh was holed and ordered everyone out. All residents but Qawasmeh, 26, went out of the house, eyewitnesses told IslamOnline.net Monday.

Two Israeli Mirkava tanks fired several shells at the house destroying large swathes of it, then a military bulldozer completely flattened the house, the eyewitnesses added.

The Israeli troops then took Qawasmeh body out of a well under the house, threw it aside and denied medical teams the chance to reach it, said the eyewitnesses, adding that the Israeli troops were still besieging the house perimeter, not allowing the media or paramedics to reach the scene.

According to Palestinian sources, Qawasmeh - from the Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing - has been on the Israeli list of wanted Palestinians for two years.

Qawasmeh's uncle, Abdullah - leader of Hamas military wing in Al-Khalil - was assassinated by Israel on June 14.

Israel accuses Qawasmeh of planning and carrying out several anti-Israeli attacks.

The attack is the third such attack by Israeli troops in Al-Khalil during the month of September.

On September 16, the house of Al Fayyad family was destroyed and Ahmed Abu Doush - 25 - from Al-Quds Brigades, military wing of Islamic Jihad, was assassinated.

On September 9, a seven-story building, owned by a Qawasmeh family member, was destroyed, and two Qassam Brigades members were killed.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian teenager who was shot by Israeli troops last year died of his wounds in hospital Monday, medical sources said.

Saadi Mansur, 16, suffered serious spinal injuries when Israeli soldiers shot him in the Old City of Nablus on December 6, 2002, the sources said.

Mansur was already deaf and mute, and his friends were playing with a plastic gun during celebrations for Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holidays marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The deaths bring the number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian Intifada nearly three years ago to 3,484, including 2,602 Palestinians and 819 Israelis, according to an AFP toll.

In addition, two wanted Hamas activists were detained overnight in the village of Rantis, close to the West Bank town of Ramallah, said Israeli military sources.

The Israeli army also continued its incursion Monday in the West Bank town of Jenin and a nearby refugee camp for the fifth day running, the same sources added.

Israeli troops surround the body of Qawasmeh

The Israeli troops were continuing their crackdown on Palestinians even though Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon confessed that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had moved to prevent anti-Israeli attacks, claiming that was the "result of the threat to remove him," according to Israeli military radio Monday.

"It seems that the lull proves that Arafat, confronted with the threat (of removal) has begun to act to prevent terrorist attacks," Sharon was reported to have said in Sunday's cabinet meeting, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

On September 11, the Israeli security cabinet approved in principle to remove Arafat from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, deeming him an absolute obstacle to peace.

The decision sparked anger among Palestinians and widespread international condemnation, especially after one minister suggested that Arafat could be assassinated.

Interior Minister Avraham Poraz was reported to have criticized the decision at the cabinet meeting, before being slapped down by Sharon.

The United Nations voted almost universally for a resolution on Friday which criticized the Israeli threats against Arafat.

"The security cabinet decision caused Israel severe damage," the top-selling Yediot Aharonot quoted Poraz as saying.

"Several things have happened as a result of that meeting and the U.N. resolution cannot be disregarded.

"The decision to expel Arafat should be re-discussed and perhaps even overturned," added Poraz who is a member of the centrist Shinui party in Sharon's coalition government.