Israel Kills Militant In West Bank

Brief, Unofficial Truce Between Palestinians And Israel Already Under Severe Threat

(CBS/AP)  Israeli troops on an arrest raid in the West Bank Wednesday killed an Islamic Jihad militant in a pre-dawn gun battle, according to Palestinians and the Israeli military.

CBS News correspondent Robert Berger reports the killing is the latest sign that an unofficial truce between Palestinian militants and Israel that had briefly kept the peace, may disintegrate.

The military said the troops were trying to arrest a high-ranking militant in the village and opened fire only when the man refused to surrender and began shooting at them.

Abdel Karim Hammad, whose family lives in the house, said troops surrounded a house in the village of Saida and demanded that its occupants come out.

Saleh Karkur, 27, a wanted Islamic Jihad gunman who was staying with the family, refused to come out and a gunfight erupted and Karkur was shot and killed, Hammad said.

The Israelis then demolished half of the house and arrested Hammad's father for harboring a wanted militant, he said.

AP Television News footage showed the man's body lying atop the ruins of the house. Palestinian medics said they took the body from the scene.

Berger says Islamic Jihad, which frequently fires rockets at Israel, was quick to promise revenge. Palestinian groups have long demanded that any truce include a halt to Israeli raids in the West Bank.

Israel is holding peace talks with the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas, based in the West Bank. But Israel says the Palestinians are not yet capable of controlling militants in their territory and continues military operations against gunmen.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian rocket fell near the Israeli city of Ashkelon. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a tiny militant group, claimed responsibility for the rocket, which Israel said landed in an open area south of Ashkelon, causing no injuries.

Israeli defense officials said the army would not retaliate for the attack, since Hamas militants had not launched the rocket. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject.

In Gaza, Islamic Jihad released a statement Wednesday saying Karkur was one of the group's top West Bank commanders and threatened to avenge his death.

Meanwhile, Berger says there are fears in Israel that some Jews may try to seek revenge on Palestinians in Jerusalem for a brazen shooting attack last week which left eight students dead at a prominent Jewish seminary.

Israel Television reports students at the seminary, which was attacked last Thursday by a Palestinian gunman, are planning to take revenge. The target, according to the reports, would be a senior Palestinian official at the al Aqsa Mosque, the volatile site called the Temple Mount by Jews.

An attack at the mosque could prompt a outbreak of violence across Israel and the Palestinian territories, says Berger. Israeli police say they have prepared for the possibility of a revenge attack, but so far there have been no arrests.

[titletrack]

Good to hear - I am not a big fan of Palestinian militants

[quetzal0666]

kdeetz1....

what would we do if inthe middle of the night a foreign occupying army drove us from our homes, set us up in concentration camps, produced a book from some foreign God, and declared itself ruler of a new holy land,

[pooleyman]

Israel should do what those peaceful muslims do: send in some suicide bombers to palestine

[kdeetz1]

I just can''t understand why people are so depressed when Israel defends itself. Palestine, which historically didn''t exist before 1948 (check out the history for God''s sake) has sent people to Passover services to blow up children, old women and old men, killed students repeatedly and rejoices when its youth are killed in these forlorn operations. What would we in the US do if our homes were rocketed and our churches blown up by homicide bombers?

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,, 3.47 here... I moved from San Diego 8 years ago, I lived in Mera Mesa then Imperial Beach.... I have a daughter in College Heights

[underdogus]

Sacramento off of I-80, turn north ..Posted by j-whitman ...have you notice the gas prices lately? I live in San Diego... = ) 3.55$ yaiks!

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,,,, I live in North Higlands, Ca. 7 miles north of Sacramento off of I-80, turn north on Watt Ave. & look me up,,,,, I''m listed in the phone book & there is only one J. Whitman here

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,,, When are you going to enlist & serve this country you b.astard ?? Are you afraid ????

[underdogus]

j-whitman hey, you b.astard how ya doing?

[j-whitman]

demslie,,,, Calling Americans terrorist again ???

Iraq is a War of Agression we fought against Germany & Japan for starting..... It opened the door for Al Queda, increased Global Threats against our country & is fueling more terrorism while destroying our own national security

[underdogus]

Your Neocon regime Posted by RowdyTexan2 ..."regime" ?? you live under a regime? while driving a SUV?? he,he you''re funny!

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by demslie at 10:39 AM : Mar 12, 2008

Your Neocon regime has made a total mockery of human rights! Your spill about human rights holds absolutely no weight!

Just yesterday, your Neocon regime refused UN inspectors to come in the Iraqi prisons!

After watching the soap opera that is the Israeli / Palastinian conflict I see that Isreal gets accused of aggression and inflicting humanatarian crimes.
But what I don''t see is an international disgust over the palastinians firing at civilians! I mean how can you accuse one side and not the other?
Another thing, the international community is saying that punishing all the Gaza palastinians is illegal, because collective punishment is against international laws.
Lets look at this from a different prospective.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group, the palastinians voted Hamas into the government knowing full well that they were designated a terrorist organization. So the way I am looking at it as should the rest of the would ALL palastinians are now terrorist and should be treated as such, which means shoot on site and or totally isolate the whole bunch until they come to their senses and get those so called people out of Gaza. I have watch innocent people killed in the name of jihad, when in fact they are killed for hatred.

[lochlan-2009]

demslie - Every single thing you said was completly wrong. Is this the misinfromation you are told to post or do you just spit out what you hear on GOP radio.

[demslie]

Israel needs to sit down with its neighbors and make peace, and the US needs to stay out of it and quit stirring the pot. Let the Middle East make peace with itself, or not!


Posted by RowdyTexan2

Spoken like a true Terrorist. IRAN, Al Qaeda and the terrorist will never let the "PEOPLE" make their own decisions. The Terrorist want control. The IRAQI people lived in a genocidal ditatorship for 30 years but the only time Democrats got mad about it was when America invaded. Democrats don''t give a DAMNNN about Human Rights or Democracy for the worlds people. All they want is to join their partners in IRAN and Al Qaeda in Denouncing anything America does.

[demslie]

Why are Israelis playing policemen in Palestine?

Given the fact Israel controls everything in Palestine, including their borders, natural rwsources, and everything else, it is disingenuous to claim Palestinians are not Israelis.

Israel is an apartheid state just like the pre-Civil War US or the old South Africa in which half the citizens did not get to vote and had no legal rights.

It is time for Israel to grant full rights to all their citizens or else face harsh sanctions.


Posted by tuckerndfw

Spoken like a true terrorist. The GAZA is not Palestine. It was given to the these people in a "Land for Peace Deal". Within ten minutes of Arab occupation of the land, they began a war on ISRAEL from the new acquired territory. The Arabs now had land to use as a Headquarters for launching attacks all over Israel, and to support terrorists in other countries. So much for "Land for Peace". Of course Democrats support IRAN, Al Qaeda and World Wide Terrorism because, as you can see from this post, They never mention the genocide that is standard operating procedure for Muslims and Islam. And finally, don''t forget, its all George Bush''s fault.

[lochlan-2009]

"Berger says Islamic Jihad, which frequently fires rockets at Israel, was quick to promise revenge...But Israel says the Palestinians are not yet capable of controlling militants in their territory."

"Israel Television reports students at the seminary, which was attacked last Thursday by a Palestinian gunman, are planning to take revenge. The target, according to the reports, would be a senior Palestinian official at the al Aqsa Mosque, the volatile site call the Temple Mount by Jews"

Notice the difference betweent these two statements.
See how the Palestinians "frequently fires rockets at Israel", but nothing is said about the Israelis murdering Palestinians and plowing down their houses, while stealing their land.

Palestinians attacking Israeli citizens are militants, but when the tables are turned they''re angry students.

Hey singinrick, underdogus, hows your genocide against muslims going? You know if a link is ever made between you people getting payed to propaganda by the Bush Admin., Church, Defense dept., or whomever, genocide is not looked at lightly globaly.

[rowdytexan2]

Israel needs to sit down with its neighbors and make peace, and the US needs to stay out of it and quit stirring the pot. Let the Middle East make peace with itself, or not!

[jumkey]

Hey singinrick take your bigotry and hate speech elsewhere.

Your calls for genocide are disgusting.

[quetzal0666]

only a matter of time before things get set straight,
you can only look away so long before the stink of Genocide begin to weigh heavy on the worlds conscience...................................