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Israel Raids Palestinian Homes Making Arrests
CAIRO (IslamOnline) - The Israeli army on Sunday arrested 14 Palestinians for supporting the Islamic occupation resistance movement Hamas. The arrests included a leading member of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction.
Eyewitnesses said the Israeli army, backed by units from Israel’s undercover intelligence service, raided several Palestinian homes in the village of Assira al-Shamalia near Nablus in search for members of the Islamic movement who had been released from Palestinian Authority prisons.
Hamas said most of those arrested were students at al-Nagah university. The organization also said families of the students complained that their houses were destroyed and vandalized as Israeli troops searched for the suspects, and as officers interrogated families.
Under the Oslo Agreements, Israel, supervised by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has the right to access all U.S.-held information about groups that oppose the Middle East talks, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Recent reports also indicate that Israel has used Palestinian agents to locate the whereabouts of Islamic activists pivotal in organizing and perpetuating the 12-week uprising against Israeli occupation.
Israeli forces also arrested Fatah head Bilal Ozari early Sunday. Ozari was taken into custody near the village of Salfit, south of the West Bank settlement of Ariel, at a roadblock, Israel Radio said.
The Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli military source as saying that “several of those arrested were ‘heavy sharks’." The paper said a combined force of Nahal, Border Police and Duvdevan undercover units made up the arresting team. The paper also said the Palestinians were taken completely by surprise in the late night raid.
Hamas replied defiantly to the arrests and said that it would continue its struggle against Israeli occupation. “Our people are determined to win back their rights regardless of such barbaric acts by the occupation forces,” a Hamas statement said.
Hamas commands wide support among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live. The group, long targeted by Israeli forces, also remains adamantly opposed to talks with what it calls “the Zionist entity”.
According to an article in the Palestinian daily al-Hayat al-Jedidah, an official publication of the Palestinian Authority, the Islamic Jihad, another occupation resistance group, has reportedly sworn to carry out revenge bombings in Israel in response to the raids and arrests.
Talks between Israelis and Palestinians hit a deadlock after U.S.-sponsored peace talks ended unsuccessfully in July, and remain so after recent attempts over the weekend in Washington.
In September, the peace process came close to a tragic end after Ariel Sharon's infamous incursion into Haram al Sharif, the massive stone plateau in Jerusalem considered holy by Muslims. Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount and consider it holy as well.
In the ensuing violence, more than 330 people have been killed and thousands injured. Most of those killed and injured have been Palestinians.
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