Israel destroys a position for the PA, bulldozed hundreds of dunnums
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/10/2001

Palestinian sources said on Wednesday that the Israeli forced on Wednesday entered " A" areas which belong to the Palestinian Authorities to the east of Beit hanoun and incurred 150 meters, bulldozed large areas of lands and broke into a position for the Palestinian security forces.

The Israeli forces also on Wednesday evening broke into an area for the Palestinian Authorities near Ramullah at a time when the Israeli forces bombarded using tanks and missiles a position for the Palestinian police. One Palestinian baby was wounded by the Israeli shells in Rafah camp and confrontations erupted in Eisan town to the east of Khan Younis, whose people protested against the Israeli forces leveling of vast areas of their agricultural lands.

The Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat described the operation of breaking into Beit Hanoun as a grave work and a great escalation.

The Israeli forces carried out a vast detention campaign targeted 18 Palestinians from Taqou' village near Bethlehem, despite the fact that this area falls under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Meantime, the Israeli forces found the two bodies of two settlers, killed by knife near " Tkou" " settlement to the east of Bethlehem. The Israeli prime minister Sharon said Arafat is responsible for the killing of the two settlers, claiming that this constitute an escalation to security conditions and called on the Palestinian Authority to halt the Intifada.

Meantime, the Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres called on Europe to exert more pressure on the Palestinians in order to halt the Intifada. He said: " the Europeans have to pursue the same way pursued by the US with Arafat."

The Israeli minister of infrastructure Avigdore Liberman held the Palestinians responsible for the escalation of conditions in the occupied territories, calling on his government to eliminate the Intifada.

For her part, the Israeli minister of education Limore Lifnant called for tightening the siege and military measures against the Palestinians and asked Sharon to provide the Israeli settlers, and even the Israeli students with weapons and fighting means.

For his part, member of the Israeli Knesset and former foreign minister Sholoumo Bin Ami stressed that the government of Sharon is not able to take decisive decisions and that its military measures do not constitute the proper reply to the Intifada. He admitted the that the oppressive operations carried out by the Israeli army against the Palestinians are futile.

On the other hand, the divan of the Israeli prime minister Sharon has criticized the clarifications requested by the American administration from Israel on spending and investing millions of USD from American aids to build new settlements, while the Israeli foreign minister Peres said that his government spent more than 360 million USD to expand the settlements and build new settlements in the West bank and Gaza, refusing the American criticism for this expansion.

On Tuesday, the spokesman for the US state department asked Israel for explanations on the reason behind its intention to spend huge sums to expand the settlements, describing that as a new defiance for the American administration which described this act as a provocative act that flaring up conditions of the already tense situation in the region.

At the Palestinian level, the Fatah's central committee called for unifying ranks and uniting efforts to avert dangers imposed on the "Palestinian national work." It stressed joint efforts to protect the Palestinian Intifada in confrontation of the Israeli schemes.

The secretary of the Fatah movement Marwan al-Barghouthi said that the Palestinians are determined to continue the Intifada as far the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian territories continues.

The spiritual leader of the Hamas movement, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin called on the Arab and Islamic nations for supporting the Palestinians by weapons and money in order to ensure the continuity of the Intifada.

He declared Friday ( tomorrow) as a day of rage and defiance of the Israeli steps to threaten the al-Aqsa mosque.

In Paris, the French President Jacques Chirac expressed on Wednesday his country's concern over the tense situation in the occupied territories and called for the resumption of negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

The director of the Middle East and North Africa departments at the French Foreign ministry said that Chirac sent two messages to Arafat and Sharon in a step materializing the great concern of the French authorities before the development of conditions and called for halting the violence and for finding out political prospects.

Previous Stories:
  Continued Israeli threats against the Palestinians   (5/9/2001)
  Israel annouced the seizure of a boatload of weapons   (5/8/2001)
  Palestinian baby killed by Israeli shells   (5/8/2001)

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