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Violence Continues Amid Settlements Row
JERUSALEM, April 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In a fresh wave of violence that began Friday, the Israeli army continued attacks against Palestinians, bulldozing two installations overnight of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 guard unit and a Palestinian police post near the Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip, a military spokesman said Saturday.
The spokesman said the army destroyed the posts in response to what it called "terrorist attacks against civilians and Israeli soldiers, especially mortar fire on Netzarim."
One Force 17 member was seriously injured in a gunfight with Israeli soldiers who were destroying one of the posts in Gaza City, witnesses and hospital sources said.
Israel has also decided to build new settlements in the territories, a move Palestinians condemned Saturday and vowed to fight.
"Settlements are the most serious form of aggression against the Palestinian people," a statement issued after a meeting of Arafat's cabinet overnight said.
"We will continue to defend our land and our lives against Israeli occupation and colonization, which are cancers," said the statement carried by the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The Palestinians were reacting to an announcement by the Israeli housing ministry Thursday that had called for tenders for the construction of a total of 708 new homes in two settlements in the West Bank.
In an unusual blast at Israel, the move was condemned as a provocation by the United States, as well as by France and the pro-peace lobby in Israel.
"Security and stability can not be achieved while settlement eats up Palestinian land," Palestinians charged. "Continued settlement building torpedoes all efforts towards resuming peace negotiations and violates all signed agreements."
The statement called on the members of the international community "who consider settlements to be an illegal and provocative measure and an obstacle to peace, to act within the United Nations Security Council to ensure protection for the Palestinian people."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership hailed a resolution passed in Geneva Friday by the U.N. Human Rights Committee affirming the Palestinians' right to self-rule.
A total of 48 countries out of the 53-member committee voted in favor of the Palestinians "inalienable right" to self-determination, with only the United States and Guatemala opposing.
"This resolution is important at this time and shows that the international community is aware of the Palestinians' sufferings as a result of Israeli repression and of their rights," the Palestinian leadership said.
It attacked the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose first month in office has seen an upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence, for "maintaining the siege of our towns, stepping up aggression and pursuing settlement-building."
And not only Palestinians have turned against Jewish settlements. The Israeli media has begun to suggest evicting some settlers from areas, arguing that settlements have become a "magnet for extremists".
One such settlement is located in Hebron. "The Jewish settlement in Hebron is a major nuisance, and the lawless behavior by Jews there in recent days leads to the conclusion that the settlement must be evacuated," the influential liberal Haaretz daily said in an editorial.
Elsewhere, the Arab neighborhood of Abu Sneinah has come under almost nightly Israeli army bombardment from tanks looking down from the nearby hills of Jebel Jawhar a week after an Israeli child, Shalhevet Pass, was killed by Palestinian sniper fire from the area.
One of the raids, described by residents as the worst in six months of violence, killed close to 40 Hebron residents and wounded hundreds more, lasting 12 hours through the night.
"No one goes out any more after evening prayers" at around 7.30 pm, said 28-year-old Faris Abu Sneinah, who lost his father when an Israeli shell crashed onto his house on October 23rd.
Abu Sneinah, whose ancient family name is that of the district under siege, pointed to 10 houses virtually deserted for fear of further bombardment.
Even al-Nahda school, with around 600 pupils under the age of 14, has not been spared shelling, and residents are no longer stroll around the Abu Sneinah district.
"Where shall we go?" asked Rabiha Taameh, 65, who refuses to leave the home where she lives with nine others.
"This is our home and our neighborhood. I'm resigned to my fate." And her fate may not be good, if the recent bloody history of the town is any indicator.
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