Israeli tanks surrounding Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, November 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli occupation army invaded Jenin Friday, November 22, killing a Palestinian boy, as it reoccupied the West Bank town of Bethlehem and the southern Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian policeman with tank fire.

Dozens of Israeli tanks stormed the northern West Bank town of Jenin and its refugee camp early Friday, and armed clashes broke out with Palestinian resistance, Palestinian security sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israeli forces shot dead a 12-year-old Palestinian boy as he was throwing stones at invading armored vehicles, Palestinian medical sources told AFP.

Israeli forces surrounded a house in the camp where they claimed a wanted Islamic Jihad activist is suspected to be hiding, added AFP.

Fifteen kilometers (nine miles) south of Nablus, Israeli armored vehicles raided the town of Tubas, and soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for elements of Palestinian resistance, Palestinian security sources said.

And in Nablus, also on the northern West Bank, Israeli forces destroyed the family houses of two Palestinian activists accused of having allegedly carried out anti-Israeli operations earlier this year, in which they both died.

The occupation army bulldozed the family house of Imad Shkeirat, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's resistance Fatah movement.

The army also bulldozed the family house of Amjad Qutub, who was affiliated to the resistance Islamic movement Hamas.

The Israeli army has been increasingly using house demolition since August in a bid to quell the two-year-old Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation.

More than 80 houses have been destroyed since August and human rights groups say the policy amounts to "collective punishment", said AFP.

Most West Bank towns and villages have been reoccupied by the Israeli army since June.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, the Israeli army launched Friday massive offensives within Bethlehem, an Israeli military source told AFP.

Israeli armor had stormed Bethlehem from various directions, then re-occupied nearby Beit Jala, clamping down a curfew, AFP added.

The occupation army took up positions near the entrances to Deisheh Palestinian refugee camp, Palestinian officials told AFP.

Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in what army radio described as a move aimed at preventing Palestinian resistance from taking refuge there.

Israeli forces also killed a Palestinian policeman early Friday near the Netzarim settlement south of Gaza City.

The victim, 26-year-old Sahni Abu-Hussein, was working in the sector that was shelled by the Israeli army, a Palestinian hospital source told AFP.

But an army spokesman claimed Abu-Hussein was allegedly going to attack the settlement when he was gunned down by Israeli army fire.

Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles stormed Al-Qarada near Khan Younes in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces blew up the home of Younes al-Artal, head of the Islamic resistance group Hamas for the southern Gaza Strip, and also destroyed the house of another Hamas activist, Palestinian security officials said.

Israeli raids came in the wake of a Palestinian resistance bus bombing attack in West Jerusalem Thursday, November 21, that killed 11 Israelis and the attacker.

Earlier, army radio had quoted high-ranking military officials as saying an offensive on the entire city of Bethlehem was a reprisal for Thursday’s operation  whose performer was identified as coming from the southern West Bank town.

The blast in Jerusalem was first claimed by the resistance group Hamas and then later by Islamic Jihad.

Israeli security forces have named the Jerusalem bomber as Nael Abu-Hlayel, 23, from Bethlehem while his relatives said his brother and cousin had already been abducted at the family home in Dura, a village close to Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Far-right Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz gave the army green light permission to reoccupy Bethlehem Thursday night, said AFP.

Palestinian security personnel had evacuated their bases in Bethlehem in anticipation of an offensive as Israeli soldiers occupied 25 homes Thursday night in the village of Al-Khader by the southern entrance to Bethlehem, security sources said.   

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