Three Palestinians killed, legislative council convenes first session

Ezz Eddine al-Qassam group, the military wing of the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, announced the death of two of its members in Ramullah in the West Bank, and called on its cells to target all the Israeli interests and objectives.

In a statement, al-Qassam group announced that the two men are Sayed Abdul Karim al-Sheikh Qasem (30 year old), and Saleh Mahmoud Talahemah (40 year old) from Doura town in Hebron. They were killed yesterday in Ramullah in a clash with the Israeli occupation forces.

This, however, came hours after the killing of Amjad al-Saadi ( 28 year old), one of the leaders of al-Aqsa groups, in an ambush implanted by the occupation forces in the eastern quarters of Jenin.

News reports said that the occupation forces pretended that they had withdrawn from Jenin after breaking into it, but it ambushed for the Palestinian fighters in tombs on the road to the house of al-Saadi, and shot him with 20 bullets.

The news reports said that clashes took place in Jenin camp between armed Palestinians and the occupation forces which demolished and inspected several houses under pretext of searching for wanted Palestinians.

In Sela al-Harethiyah village near Jenin, the Israeli forces demolished two houses for two leaders in the Islamic Jihad, detained in Israel.

The Israeli occupation forces imposed yesterday at dawn a curfew at Beit Fajjar town, to the south west of Bethlehem, after breaking into the town. People of the town said that the occupation special units are launching a breaking in operation into the houses, and that its members destroyed the furniture in several houses, and detained several youths during the operations.

This escalation coincided with a meeting by the Palestinian Legislative Council, held for the first time in Gaza under the chairman of the new speaker of the council, Rafiq al-Nitshe. The meeting was attended by members from the West Bank for the first time since three years.

The Israeli occupation forces banned three members from heading to Gaza to attend the session as it refused to give them permit to cross Erez barrier.

The participants decided to postpone discussions of security and political issues until next week's session, and that yesterday's session will be limited to internal laws, especially discussing the budget of the Palestinian authority for 2004.