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Israeli Army Destroys Hebron Compound, G-8 Summit Ends
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| Israeli
army destroys the Muqataa
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HEBRON
(AL KHALIL), West Bank, June 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -
The Israeli occupation army destroyed the main Palestinian security
compound in Hebron late Friday.
As the Group of Eight (G-8) summit
failed to address the Middle East crisis in a decisive manner, Israel
was unimpeded, news
agencies reported Saturday, June 29, 2002.
"After
having called for the wanted Palestinians in the
building to come out, an engineer unit blew up part of the
muqataa," the Israeli army said in a statement. It was not clear
if anyone died in the blast, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
Israeli army blasted to bits the Palestinian Authority's (PA) central
office in
Hebron
Friday night where it claimed 15 to 20 Palestinian resistance
activists were holed up, according to Israeli military radio.
The
army detonated explosives. Then bulldozers cleared away debris so
soldiers could search what was left standing of Hebron's massive
security and administrative complex, known as the "muqataa",
for the wanted Palestinians, who could have been killed by the blast,
the radio said.
There
was no official word on casualties. Army Radio said it was likely the
activists were dead under the rubble after military engineers
detonated two tons of explosives to destroy the structure, according
to Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz.
A massive blast shattered the police headquarters in the West Bank
city after dark after Israeli troops were seen entering the building.
"There was a big explosion that destroyed most of the
headquarters and damaged other buildings around it," a
cameraman in the scene said, according to Ha’aretz.
The cameraman saw soldiers with flashlights moving inside the
headquarters some four hours after the explosion while army vehicles
brought up reinforcements.
Hebron is the seventh West Bank city to be reoccupied by the Israeli
army, which has placed more than 600,000 Palestinians under curfew.
Israeli tank shells smashed a hole in the outer wall of the Hebron
police headquarters earlier on Friday and bulldozers moved in to widen
the breach.
Israeli occupation troops surrounded the building early Tuesday, June,
25, 2002, as part of the renewed Israeli military offensive to
reoccupy the West Bank. The occupation army claims it wants to stem
what it brands “terrorist attacks” against Israelis.
Former PA cabinet member Talal Sidr entered the besieged Palestinian
compound Friday afternoon, to persuade the allegedly
armed Palestinians holed up inside to surrender.
On leaving the hilltop building, Sidr said he could find nobody inside
to talk to. It was possible, he added, that the men were in parts of
the heavily damaged four-story building that he was unable to check.
Around 150 people inside the compound, which also houses the regional
security headquarters, gave themselves up since Tuesday, including
about 40 Palestinians on Israel's wanted list, the Israeli paper
reported.
"I walked into the headquarters. I went into several
places," Sidr said shortly after his visit, which lasted less
than an hour.
"The situation there is extremely difficult - a lot of damage in
many places. I didn't see anyone, but that doesn't mean there is no
one inside because there are places heavily damaged that I couldn't
enter."
Sidr, who is from Hebron, said he went in with Israeli permission
after discussing the matter with Israeli authorities. He said that
after his look around, he suggested to the Israelis they end the siege
and check inside the building.
Sidr, not acting officially on behalf of the PA, climbed over rubble
escorted by Israeli troops and entered the building through a 100
meter-wide hole in the wall made earlier by an Israeli bulldozer.
Witnesses said the bulldozer knocked down the wall at the ground level
of the four-story building, and that tanks were also firing at the
building.
The Israeli military said there are no negotiations in progress about
a surrender.
The Israeli aggression in
Hebron
came as the world's most powerful leaders finished a meeting in
Canada
where they failed to repair the rift over U.S. President George W.
Bush's controversial demand
Monday, June 24, 2002
, for the ouster of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Although G-8 summit called for the creation of a Palestinian state, it
was curiously mute on
Israel
's reoccupation of
West Bank
towns in the last 10 days.
For
its part, the Palestinian leadership has issued a statement condemning
the Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas as "an attempt to
sabotage peace efforts", reported BBC’s online news service.
The
statement appealed to the world leaders attending the G8 summit to
"send observers to the region to ensure implementation of a
ceasefire."
Chief
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said "Bush realized the whole
world has agreed that the Palestinian people have the last word when
it comes to choosing their leadership, and that Yasser Arafat is
(their) elected president."
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| Sidr
talks to Israeli soldiers from the besieged regional
headquarters of the PA.
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Key
Washington allies -
Britain
,
Canada
, France,
Germany
and
Russia
- broke rank with Bush over his public wish to dump Arafat.
However,
Bush, in his speech before the summit, again made reference to his
call for the Palestinians to replace Yasser Arafat as president.
He
played down divisions between the
U.S.
and
Europe
over the issue, describing the response from
Europe
as "positive".
Bush's
speech Monday called for the Palestinians to enact sweeping political
reforms and step up its combat against militants with an eye on giving
Palestinians an independent state, conditioned on Arafat's ouster.
In
other incidents, Israeli troops abducted 35 Palestinian men in
separate sweeps in the
West Bank
, while two Palestinian children were wounded as soldiers opened fire
on stone throwers, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.
In
Gaza
City
, Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin led an anti-U.S. protest of more
than 1,000 people, despite being put under house arrest on Monday by
Arafat in reaction to
U.S.
and Israeli demands he rein in activists.
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