Israel continue killing, arrests; Israeli officer killed, three wounded in a Jordan Valley operation
Palestine-Israel, Military, 3/20/2002

The US special envoy Anthony Zinni continues his mission in the region. He on Tuesday met and discussed with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat in Ramullah means of implementing the Tenet plan.

Meantime, the Israeli forces continued its practices against the Palestinians. One Palestinian Suleiman al-Zoubaa was shot and another was strongly wounded when the Israeli occupation forces opened its machine- guns fire at the Arab houses near Deir al-Balah and the area to the west of Khan Younis. Eye- witnesses said that one Israeli tank ran over the corpse of al-Zoubaa after his death, while Palestinian security forces said that one member of the Palestinian security was hit by the Israeli bullets near the Israeli position of Kitsovim and 5 citizens were wounded in al-Qarrar town near the said position during the incursion of the Israeli tanks in the area during which three houses were destroyed together with a poultry farm. The Israeli forces also broke into Hareth village near hebron and arrested three Palestinians.

Meanwhile news reports said that the Israeli occupation forces were redeployed in the areas surrounding Bethlehem and the adjoining villages and imposed a comprehensive military siege on these areas and on Beit jala which is close to Jerusalem and that the Israeli army was also re-deployed in the surrounding of Qalqilya, Toulkarem and the north of Gaza.

On the other hand, Palestinian security sources denied what was declared by the Israeli army on its pullout from the Palestinian territories, noting that the Israeli army still keeps tanks and armored vehicles in areas it claimed it had pulled out from and that the Israeli forces also carried out, once again, new incursion operations by the tanks the two areas of al-Sudaneyah and Beit Lahia for 600 meters and one Israeli tanks fired artillery shells at the headquarters of the naval police in al-Sudaneyah resulted in heavy damages.

To this effect, the Israeli minister Dani Nafeh called on the Israeli forces not to pull out from the areas it had recently re-occupied in the West Bank and Gaza. He said that he is not sure that the Israeli army has actually started withdrawal from the Palestinian areas, but hoped that such a pullout will not take place completely even if the Israeli forces are obliged to redeploy in one way or another.

Meantime, the chairman of Jerusalem municipality Shemon Shtreet criticized the statements made by the UN secretary general Kofi Annan in which he stressed that the military operations in which the Israeli army used warship and planes against the Palestinian camps and cities are but a "traditional war." The Israeli minister added that Annan's statements are biased to the Palestinian side, stressing continued military operations until the Intifada continues.

The Palestinians retaliated by an attack by two Palestinians at the Parachutists units near Khoulda settlement in the Jordan Valley. One Israeli army officer was killed as a result and other three wounded before the two Palestinians were shot to death.

The Israeli radio that the officer who was killed is Ghabi Tseimih. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and the two resistance men Ahmad Ali Atiq and Saleh Muhammad Kaheel from Barqin and Qabatya towns in Jenin. They are the executors of the operation and stressed it will continue resistance until the occupied territories are liberated.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli forces incurred into Bethlehem tightened siege   (3/18/2002)
  Partial withdrawal for Israeli forces, 8 Palestinians killed by Israel   (3/16/2002)
  3 Israeli soldiers killed in tanks explosion, 12 Palestinians assassinated by Israelis   (3/15/2002)

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