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New Israeli Incursion into Autonomous Zone of Bethlehem
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Israel's
new tactic is surrounding towns, raiding them at will and
abducting freedom fighters, before quick departure.
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BETHLEHEM,
West Bank, May 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli
occupation army Monday made a new, pre-dawn incursion into the Palestinian
autonomous zone of Bethlehem south of occupied Jerusalem, Palestinian
and Israeli sources said.
Infantry
units, backed by about 20 armored vehicles took up positions in
different parts of the town, 24 hours after a previous incursion, Palestinian
security sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
They
abducted four or five members of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's
Fatah movement in the Dheisheh refugee camp, the sources said.
An
Israeli military source confirmed the operation was under way, adding
that another incursion into Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank was
continuing.
Early
Sunday, May 26, the Israeli army had blown up the Bethlehem home of
Mohammad Shehade, local head of the Palestinian
movement Islamic
Jihad, who had narrowly escaped abduction.
The
Israeli army also besieged the house of late martyr bomber, the
17-year-old girl, Ayat El-Akhras, indicating a new policy of pressure
on the families of martyr bombers, in a bid to stop more Palestinian
youths from carrying out further resistance attacks in retaliation for
the daily Israeli offensives against them.
Israel's
offensive against the Palestinians has entered a new phase with a new
tactic: soldiers surround the towns and briefly raid them at will,
abduct wanted men, and try to foil potential resistance attacks,
before they quickly depart.
The
Israeli army claims its daily incursions are intended to keep
Palestinian resistance – which it describes as ‘terrorism’ –
at bay in the wake of the earlier, far more intense, Israeli
aggressions.
Before
their incursions, the Israeli forces tell the Palestinian police they
are about to enter the town, so the police do not shoot at them. So
far, the police, drastically weakened by the Israeli wide-scale
offensives, have not.
Once
the Israeli forces enter the town, they raid it, abduct Palestinian
resistance activists, kill a number of citizens in the process, then
quickly depart.
Palestinian
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo denounced the new policy
describing it as "a clear indicator that there is no real Israeli
withdrawal from the Palestinian areas."
He
said the fact that Israeli forces are surrounding Palestinian towns
and entering at will "means more killing and a freeze of all
operations, including schools and hospitals and to kill the life of
the normal Palestinian civilian."
Meanwhile,
the United Sates continued its pressure on the Palestinians, with U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell saying Sunday, May 26 that Arafat
could still be doing a better job.
"Now,
we believe he could be a better leader and could lead the Palestinian
Authority in a more effective way," Powell said, without any
mention of the daily Israeli incursions into autonomous Palestinian
towns.
U.S.
President George W. Bush, during an official visit to Saint Petersburg
in Russia, lashed out at the Palestinian President for continued
martyr operations against Israel.
"He
has not delivered. He had a chance to secure peace as a result of the
hard work of president [Bill] Clinton and he has not," Bush
said, referring to the 2000 Camp David peace accord.
Palestinian
Minister Saeb Erakat blasted Bush's
criticism of Arafat Sunday, accusing him of turning a blind eye to
"war crimes" by Israel.
"While Israel pursues its aggression and war
crimes, President Bush
keeps up his refrain that President Arafat has disappointed him. These
words are unacceptable and we reject them in total," Erakat said.
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