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Israeli Tanks Storm into Palestinian Town
BEIT JALA, West Bank, Aug 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli tanks stormed into this Palestinian town early Tuesday, just hours after Israel assassinated a top Palestinian leader, news agencies reported.
Undaunted by the Israeli incursion, in which a Palestinian policeman was fatally wounded, Palestinian gunmen resumed firing on the occupation settlement of Gilo in occupied Jerusalem Tuesday morning.
As more sporadic shooting was reported during the day, and as the population braced for another night of clashes, public radio quoted the West Bank chief of Israeli forces as saying the Israeli government had allowed the army to "take all necessary measures to stop the shooting on Gilo."
"The operation in Beit Jala is still underway and the time it will take the army to complete its mission is not yet known", General Gershon Yitzhak said.
Two men from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah and Force 17 groups were injured when Israeli forces briefly moved into the nearby Aida refugee camp.
Meanwhile, near the southern West Bank town of Hebron, an Israeli tank blasted a Palestinian checkpoint, killing 23-year-old Fayad Abu Zeina - a member of the Palestinian Authority's preventative security services, and injuring four members of Arafat's elite Force 17.
The latest violence flared after Israeli rockets killed Abu Ali Mustafa, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), on Monday.
He was buried Tuesday in Ramallah where a crowd of more than 10,000 Palestinians mourned his death, which has been condemned in statements by leaders in China, Cuba, Pakistan, Egypt and the Arab world.
The PFLP struck back swiftly on Monday night, killing a Jewish settler near Nablus in the West Bank; meanwhile, in Damascus, a coalition of Palestinian resistance groups vowed to avenge the killing.
Mustafa's assassination was seen by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority a major blow to hopes of peace talks.
The Palestinian leadership said in a statement that the assassination "opens the door to all-out war" and could plunge the whole region "into a cycle of blood."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres that he was "not pleased with Israel's current policies based on military force" and urged both sides to resume talks.
Israeli forces stormed into the Gaza Strip with tanks and bulldozers, staying several hours overnight. They razed 14 Palestinian houses and damaged another 20, Palestinian security officials said Tuesday.
Thirty Palestinians were injured in the operation, which the Palestinian leadership said aimed to "destroy all signed agreements."
It said the "re-occupation reiterates that the true goal of (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon's government is to destroy all signed agreements and escalate, on a daily basis, its policy of terror, assassinations and reoccupation of parts of the Palestinian homeland."
The new Israeli operations came on the eve of the 11-month anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, which has cost the lives of 749 people, including 573 Palestinians - mostly teenagers and children, and 154 Israelis.
Despite worldwide condemnation of the assassination of the Palestinian political leader, Israel remained unrepentant, accusing Mustafa of masterminding a spate of shootings and car bombings against the occupation forces.
The United States rebuked Israel for the latest killing, but also renewed criticism of Arafat for failing to do enough to quell the violence.
"We think Israel needs to understand that targeting killings of Palestinians don't end the violence, but are only inflaming an already volatile situation and making it much harder to restore calm," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"Above all, the Palestinian Authority needs to take sustained and credible steps to preempt terror and arrest those responsible, as well as take steps to bring the violence under control," he said.
Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo called the murder of Mustafa "one of the most hideous crimes that the Israeli government has committed."
"This is a declaration of war," added Abdelaziz Rantisi, spokesman for the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called on both sides to resume talks; in Belgium, the current president of the European Union also condemned Mustafa's killing.
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