Israel detained 17 Palestinians in fresh sweeps into occupied territories

By Mustafa el-Sawwaf, IOL Gaza Correspondent

GAZA CITY, February 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – One Palestinian has been killed by Israeli occupation troops in southern Gaza city late on Wednesday, February 4.

A military offshoot of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said that Mahmoud Samir El-Debs, 22, was shot dead after attacking an Israeli military convoy down the road of Netzarim settlement.

The statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, said Debs inflicted heavy damages on the Israeli troops.

“Such an operation emphasizes the fact that resistance will go on to retaliate the daily crimes committed by the Israeli troops against the Palestinian people,” the National Resistance Brigades said in the statement.

The body was shredded in pieces by the intensive shooting of Israeli soldiers.

Five Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and the West Bank city of Jericho during the first two days of Eid.

The raid came five days after a barbaric one in the southern outskirts of Gaza city, which killed at least 13 Palestinians. A few hours after the raid, at least ten people were killed in a car bombing attack near Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence in occupied Jerusalem.

Detention campaign

Meanwhile, the Israeli army detained 17 Palestinians in a number of villages and municipalities under the pretext they are wanted.

The Palestinian Media Center has quoted security sources as saying that Israeli forces thrust into Beit Awa town, west of Al-Khalil, and detained nine people  believed to be relatives of Jihad Al-Suweity, killed by Israeli soldiers in clashes on January 30, 2004.

There are more than 6,000 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces without charges. Israel turned all Palestinian appeals for their release.

U.S. Blackmail

In another development, a security advisor of the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat accused the United States of blackmail.

The U.S. stopped its humanitarian relief programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the wake of  an attack that targeted a U.S. diplomatic vehicle in the Gaza Strip on October 15 killing three Americans, Jibril Al-Ragoub told a press conference in Ramallah.

The U.S. Administration has issued instructions to ban U.S. citizens from going into Gaza in the wake of the attack, rendering assistance programs provided to Palestinians difficult, he added.

“The Americans stopped taking part in the assistance programs pending the results of our investigations,” Ragoub said.

He added that that the Americans have made use of such an attack, which he said is an individual incident, to stop taking part in the programs and “blackmail the Palestinian Authority.”

The U.S. categorically denied such an accusation and affirmed its commitment to the peace process and the assistance programs.