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Palestinians Clash With Police Trying to Arrest Hamas Leader
GAZA CITY, Dec. 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As many as seven people were injured early Thursday when Palestinian police ran into armed resistance as they tried to arrest a Hamas chief in Gaza City.
The police swoop degenerated into an armed standoff around Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi's home, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Palestinian police made a surprise swoop on Rantissi's house in Gaza City late Wednesday, but were confronted with hundreds of Hamas loyalists summoned to form a human shield by broadcast appeals from minarets of local mosques.
Gunfire broke out around the house and police pulled back from the scene, closing off streets and pumping in hundreds of reinforcements.
A police statement said two officers and five civilians were wounded in the shoot-out, though Rantissi remained with his family in their home, unhurt and issuing defiant messages.
Rantissi told AFP by phone during the pre-dawn siege: "I am refusing to be arrested by order of the CIA and the Israeli Mossad [secret service]. There was a security meeting and then they came to arrest me."
"I think they will make me a target for Apache missiles," he added, referring to previous Israeli helicopter attacks on Palestinian activists.
Rantissi's phone line went dead after a loud boom was heard.
But he was later in contact again, saying: "They saw they were defeated and came back with a huge number of police."
The large police presence melted away at around 5:00 a.m., Hamas supporters said, stressing that they expected them to be back.
Under international pressure, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat prohibited the military wings of Hamas from carrying out resistance operations against Israel.
A Palestinian security source told news agencies that Hamas members shot at a car caravan belonging to Amin Hindi, the head of the Palestinian intelligence, but added that he was not in any of the cars.
A representative of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, denied earlier AFP reports that the group was halting attacks against Israel. He added that such rumors are not based on any facts and are "part of a distortion campaign that is being carried out by the Zionist entity and its allies."
However, AFP quoted a source saying that there is no change in the policy of Hamas and its continuous support for the resistance movement and military operations and that it will continue these operations and will in fact increase its frequency.
The BBC also reported that Hamas was planning to suspend such operations against Israel. Sheikh Hassan Youssef, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said, "Hamas is studying the issue of suspending martyrdom attacks."
"It has not been decided yet," added Youssef, "but the movement is aware of the interests of the Palestinian people and will take a decision that stems from their higher interests."
Meanwhile, the Israeli army pulled out Thursday of two Palestinian-ruled areas near the West Bank town of Ramallah, which they had re-occupied, Palestinian witnesses and security officials said.
Israeli tanks and troops pulled out of the villages of Al-Tira and Beitunia on the southwestern edge of Ramallah, hours after the first joint Israeli-Palestinian security meeting in weeks.
Weeks of knife-edge tensions scaled down late Wednesday as Israeli and Palestinian officials held their first joint security meeting since U.S. peace envoy retired General Anthony C. Zinni was recalled to Washington.
In addition, according to a draft resolution submitted Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly, Palestinians want the World Court to rule on the legality of Israel's continued occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, AFP reported.
Assembly President Han Seung-soo of South Korea called for debate Thursday on the resolution.
The resolution is expected to pass easily, diplomats said.
Palestinian representatives also submitted to the General Assembly a resolution vetoed Friday in the Security Council by the United States calling for observers in the occupied territories.
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