Alleged Kibbutz Killer Captured
Israeli troops captured the alleged mastermind of a shooting attack on an Israeli kibbutz in his West Bank hideout Thursday, and seized suspected weapons makers in the deepest raid into Gaza City in two years.
The West Bank fugitive, Mohammed Naefe, surrendered after his hideout in the town of Tulkarem was surrounded by troops, the military said. He walked out with his hands raised over his head, the army said, denying Palestinian witness reports that Naefe had jumped off the roof in an apparent attempt to escape.
An Israeli human rights group helped arrange the surrender of Naefe and two apparent accomplices.
Israel says he planned a weekend attack on Kibbutz Metzer, a communal farm near the West Bank, in which five people were killed, including a mother and her two young sons huddling in a bedroom. The brutality of the attack has stunned Israel and army commanders have vowed to track down those responsible. The gunman, identified as a 19-year-old from the Tulkarem refugee camp, remains at large.
The attack, carried out by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, has embarrassed Yasser Arafat since the militia is linked to the Palestinian leader's Fatah movement and the shooting came at a time when Fatah was trying to persuade the Islamic militant Hamas to halt suicide bombings in Israel.
A round of Fatah-Hamas talks concluded Wednesday in Cairo, Egypt, without any agreement, though they agreed to hold more talks. Also, Arafat met Thursday with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to discuss efforts to halt suicide bombings. The United States is interested in continuing the dialogue, said a senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, said security chiefs have advised him not to expel Arafat, as demanded by several hard-line Cabinet members, including Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon's rival for Likud Party leadership. Asked by Israel TV's Channel Two whether he promised Washington not to expel the Palestinian leader, Sharon only said Wednesday: "I undertook not to harm him physically."
In Washington, White House and State Department officials declined comment on Israel's latest raids, including a large-scale arrest sweep in the West Bank city of Nablus that began Wednesday. On Thursday, a 17-year-old Palestinian was killed in Nablus when troops fired at about 50 youths throwing stones toward armored vehicles — the first death in what Israel said would be an open-ended operation.
Earlier Thursday, Israel tanks and troops raided the heart of the Gaza Strip, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.
The Israeli forces swooped into heavily populated Gaza City, and apprehended four Palestinian brothers before pulling out. Israel said one of the suspects is an intelligence officer involved in terrorism. It was the deepest Israeli raid in Gaza in two years of fighting, and comes a day after Israel launched a major incursion in the West Bank town of Nablus. That operation is continuing.
The Meqdad family lives in the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood, just a few hundred yards from the home of leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. The incursion was also seen as a warning to Yassin and other Hamas leaders in the city that they are not out of reach of the Israeli security forces.
In southern Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians attended a funeral Thursday for a 2-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli troops, the second toddler to be shot dead in the Rafah refugee camp in as many days.
Hamid Masari was killed Wednesday as the family tried to flee to safety after Israeli troops opened fire on the refugee camp, witnesses said. The army said soldiers were shooting at Palestinian militants who had fired an anti-tank missile at the force.
In Tulkarem, the army demolished the family home of a local gunman who killed three people, including two teen-age girls, in a Jewish settlement Oct. 29 before being killed in a gunfight with soldiers and residents. The army said Naefe, the militia leader captured Thursday, also planned that attack.
The Israeli human rights group B'tselem, meanwhile, said the army was continuing to use Palestinian civilians as human shields in operations to arrest suspected militants, in defiance of an Aug. 18 Supreme Court injunction prohibiting the practice. The army says is has forbidden the practice and is investigating the allegations.