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Israeli Army Besieges Six Palestinian Towns
JERUSALEM, Oct 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's forces besieged six Palestinian towns Sunday after its biggest military push into the West Bank in a year of unrest, following the killing of its Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, news agencies reported.
Israel's ground forces, supported by combat helicopters, surrounded and penetrated the Palestinian towns of Nablus, Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Tulkarem, leaving 20 Palestinians dead and seven Israeli occupation troops injured, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Israel said its extensive military incursion into Palestinian self-rule zones led to the arrest or killing of 20 resistance activists.
Four Palestinian civilians were killed in the Bethlehem area, while two members of the Palestinian security forces died in Tulkarm and a Palestinian policeman and a member of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas were killed in Qalqilya, according to Palestinian sources, BBC's online service reported.
Israel also accused the head of the group behind the killing of Zeevi last Wednesday of direct responsibility.
The Israeli army said Ahmad Sadat, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the head of the group's armed wing, Zia Olma, had organized last Wednesday's hit on Zeevi in his hotel room in Jerusalem, AFP reported.
Sadat replaced former PFLP chief Abu Ali Mustapha, who was assassinated by Israel in August. The PFLP said the killing of the far-right tourism minister was in retaliation for Mustapha's slaying.
The heightened tension between the two sides threatens to undermine American efforts to consolidate Arab and Muslim support for its coalition against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group.
In a sharp rebuke, the U.S. State Department said Friday that Israel's forays into Palestinian areas were "not helpful, complicate the situation and should be halted," the BBC reported.
The U.S. called on Israel and the Palestinians to "avoid steps that inflame the situation and make more difficult measures to achieve calm,"
Israel has ignored Washington's calls for restraint in the aftermath of the first assassination ever of one its cabinet ministers by a Palestinian resistance activist.
Just hours after Zeevi was buried, Israel launched its current military campaign against the Palestinians.
It had demanded the Palestinian Authority arrest those responsible for the killing, but deemed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's arrest of a dozen members of the PFLP as insufficient.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has severed all contacts with the PA and demanded that Arafat extradite Zeevi's alleged killers to Israel and dismantle resistance groups operating in Palestinian areas.
Palestinian Culture Minister Yasser Abbed Rabbo, meanwhile, rejected Israel's ultimatum to hand over the suspects, saying the PA would not fall in to what he called an "Israeli trap".
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said everything was being done to solve Zeevi's killing.
"Every effort is being exerted by the Palestinian Authority by President Arafat to bring those who killed Mr. Zeevi to justice under Palestinian law," Erakat said. "We need to come back to the negotiating table immediately without condition because this is the only way to save the lives of Palestinians and Israelis."
In a related development, the Israeli Labor Party threatened to quit the coalition government unless the Israeli army withdraws from territory under full Palestinian control.
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