Israeli Troops Hunt Militants
Israeli troops chasing militants in the West Bank on Thursday surrounded homes, a hospital and a downtown square, killing five armed Palestinians and two bystanders, while soldiers reoccupied Bethlehem after withdrawing over Christmas.
The heightened military activity reflected Israel's strategy of seizing the initiative in its conflict with the Palestinians instead of reacting to Palestinian attacks. But the largest Palestinian death toll in weeks also raised concerns of a redoubled effort by Palestinian militants — who have not staged a major terrorist attack in almost a month — to retaliate.
A heating up of the 27-month violent conflict could also have an impact on Israel's Jan. 28 election. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud is ahead in the polls, but his advantage has been slipping as a result of a police investigation of vote-buying in the recent internal party elections.
Palestinians say Israel's measures cause severe hardships to innocent people and are decimating their economy.
After a brief Christmas respite, the Israeli army returned to Bethlehem Thursday and re-imposed a curfew, using loudspeakers to order Palestinians to return to their homes. The army had pulled back to the outskirts of town to allow Christmas observances to take place, but soldiers now are back in Manger Square, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. The army said the curfew was re-imposed because militants in the area are planning attacks.
Bethlehem resident Michel Nasser called the curfew collective punishment.
"If you're locked in jail and you didn't do a crime, it's really a painful thing," he said.
One report said the Israelis threw tear gas canisters at people who were celebrating the second day of a Christmas feast, forcing them indoors.
Israeli latest occupation of Bethlehem came after a Palestinian suicide bomber from the town who blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem on Nov. 21, killing 11 passengers. Israel says it has warnings of other militants planning attacks originating in Bethlehem.
In clashes Thursday, Israeli soldiers killed five armed Palestinian fugitives and two bystanders — a teenager and a traffic policeman.
In Ramallah, soldiers surrounded a hospital and fired at the guard room, killing an armed guard and arresting three others, Ramallah governor Mustafa Issa said. The military said soldiers shot a wanted Palestinian who tried to escape.
Also in Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has his headquarters, soldiers in plain clothes tried to arrest a wanted Palestinian, but he ran, so soldiers shot and killed him, the military said. Then Palestinians threw rocks at the soldiers, who opened fire, killing a 19-year-old traffic policeman, Palestinians said.
An elite anti-terrorist unit of Israeli commandos raided the home of a local commander of the Islamic Jihad group in the West Bank, and ordered him to surrender. Hamza Abu Roub, 37, sent out his wife and children and a short time later he started shooting at the soldiers, drawing massive return fire. Abu Roub was killed, and one Israeli soldier seriously wounded. Troops blew up Abu Roub's home and then pulled out.
In the town Tulkarem, Israeli soldiers killed Jamal Nader, 28, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
Both Abu Roub and Nader, the militiaman from Tulkarem, were at their homes even though they were fugitives.
It was once rare for Israel to find senior Palestinian militants at home, but they're finding it more difficult to take refuge in the homes of supporters who fear their homes will be demolished. Israel's policy of demolishing the homes of terrorists and those who harbor them has been condemned internationally, but it appears that it is beginning to have the desired effect of deterrence.
In Nablus, soldiers searching for a fugitive killed a Palestinian gunman in an exchange of fire, the military said. Later, after soldiers reimposed a curfew, hundreds of Palestinians protested and threw rocks at soldiers, who opened fire, killing an 18-year-old and wounding 20 other people, Palestinians said. The military said Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at soldiers.
Meanwhile, in Cairo, the militant Islamic Hamas rejected a proposal to restart talks with Fatah about stopping suicide bombing attacks against Israelis. Hamas has claimed responsibility for most of the suicide attacks against Israelis.
Egypt has hosted talks between the two Palestinian factions and was trying to arrange another round, but the Hamas representative left Cairo, charging that focusing the talks on stopping suicide bombing attacks amounted to a precondition.
Hamas, which does not accept a Jewish state in the Middle East, has resisted efforts to declare an end to attacks. Although Arafat has denounced attacks on civilians, many Palestinians consider soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza as legitimate targets; Palestinians claim those areas for a state.
A senior Israeli official said Thursday that Israel is building buffer zones around some of the Jewish settlements.
The purpose is to make it harder for Palestinian attackers to infiltrate, said Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "It's just to ensure that you have a forward defense deployment so you don't engage the terrorists inside the compound or inside the village," he said.
Army sources said the zones around the West Bank settlements would be about 300 meters (yards) wide.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the buffer zones are an attempt to expand settlements and sabotage a U.S.-backed peace plan which envisions Palestinian statehood by 2005. "Sharon wants to make sure by 2005 that it will be impossible to create a Palestinian state because of the settlements," Erekat said.