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Israeli
Forces Kill Six Palestinians As Movements Halt Martyr Operations
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| Israeli
aggression continues |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, Dec. 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Within a week since the
Palestinian Resistance movements Hamas and Jihad announced a halt of the martyr
operations, Israeli occupation troops killed six Palestinian activists late
Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip.
Three
Palestinians were killed as they tried to enter the Jewish settlements of Alei
Sinai and Nitzanit, military sources said, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
Israeli
radio said "The soldiers spotted the three, lunged at them and killed
them,", reported BBC's online news service.
Before
the shootings, moves were underway to secure the return of U.S. peace envoy
Anthony Zinni to the region in a bid to hammer out a ceasefire after 15 months
of fighting which has claimed more than 1,100 lives.
Zinni,
a retired Marine Corps general, left the Middle East two weeks ago amid raging
violence that torpedoed his peace mission.
According
to an Egyptian analyst who preferred to remain unnamed, this same scenario
had also happened before Zinni visited the region on November 26. "Before
Zinni's arrival, Israel also killed Palestinian activists triggering a response
from the Palestinian movements. The Israeli officials then diverted the U.S.
envoy's attention away from their own violent acts by focusing on the
Palestinian defensive operations."
Zinni's
arrival in the region November 26 'coincided' with fierce Israeli attacks on
symbols of the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat's authority and in response,
Palestinian activists carried out a spate of martyr operations.
At
the time, Israeli helicopters blasted three Palestinian towns and Israeli forces
killed a 13-year old Palestinian boy. The boy's death was preceded by an
assassination of a Hamas leader, Mahmud Abu Hanoud.
Hamas retaliated for Hanoud's assassination by killing an Israeli soldier in a
martyr operation against a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian leaders had also been trying to persuade Washington to take
advantage of a rare lull in the fighting, up until Sunday night, and renew its
mediation efforts in the Middle East.
Hopes
for a U.S. return to the regional stage rose after a marked drop in attacks
following a public appeal on December 16 by Palestinian President, Yasser
Arafat, to halt martyr operations – an appeal to which Palestinian movements'
Hamas and Jihad agreed.
Sunday's
six deaths made it the bloodiest day of violence since Arafat called for a
ceasefire, AFP said.
More than 70 Palestinian activists have been
killed by Israeli security forces in December in an assassination policy adopted
and approved by the Israeli cabinet months ago.
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