JENIN,
West Bank, Aug 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Four Palestinian
teenagers and an Irish woman peace activist were injured by gunfire
Tuesday, August 20, 2002, as Israeli troops pushed into the northern
West Bank town of Jenin and its refugee camp. Israeli forces in
Ramallah, meanwhile, shot dead the brother of the jailed chief of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), news agencies
reported.
Two
of the Palestinians injured in Jenin, aged 14 and 19, were in critical
condition after being shot in the chest. Four Israeli tanks and six
jeeps raided the devastated camp and opened fire on stone-throwers, who
were defying a curfew imposed by the occupation army, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
Irish peace activist and two 13-year-old boys were injured by shrapnel
wounds to the legs, but they were said to be lightly wounded,
Palestinian medical sources said.
In
Jenin itself, 10 children were also hospitalized after inhaling tear gas
when Israeli army gas canisters hit a children's party at the local
Young Women's Christian Association, AFP reported.
Dave
Jarmulka, 22, a U.S. activist with the International Solidarity Movement
(ISM), said Irish national Caoimhe Butterly, 23, was lightly injured in
the leg by shrapnel as Israeli machine guns strafed nearby houses with
gunfire.
"As
the armored personnel carriers moved into the camp, around 80 or 90
children started throwing stones and rubbish at them. The soldiers
started firing at houses and into the ground, and from the shrapnel, a
number of people were wounded," he said.
According
to a military source, there was no stone throwing and the army dispersed
a crowd of youngsters by firing a tear gas canister.
"There
was a large group of teenagers and the force asked them to move but they
didn't. The force fired a tear gas canister into the open space and they
dispersed," the source said.
The
only shooting incident within Jenin camp was when Palestinians fired at
an Israeli Army post, and the soldiers returned fire, the source added.
The
Israeli army reoccupied six of eight major towns in the West Bank,
including Jenin, imposing curfews and carried out frequent raids for
suspected freedom fighters.
In
Ramallah, meanwhile, the Israeli forces shot dead the brother of the
jailed chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP), according to Palestinian security officials.
Mohammed
Saadat, 22, brother of PFLP chief Ahmad Saadat, was shot in the head as
Israeli army special forces (allegedly) tried to arrest him outside his
house in the West Bank town, the security officials said.
Two
Israeli occupation forces were injured during the operation, according
to Israeli Army Radio.
Ahmed
Saadat has been under Palestinian detention since May 1, 2002, part of a
deal that ended a 34-day Israeli siege of Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. Israel charged that Saadat planned
the assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in a Jerusalem hotel
on Oct. 17, in retaliation for Israel's killing of Abu Ali Mustafa,
Saadat's predecessor as head of the PFLP, on Aug. 27, 2001.
After
the siege was lifted, Saadat and five other Palestinians were escorted
by British and U.S. officials to a Palestinian prison in Jericho
