A rchive Date
[ 03-04-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Israel ]
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[http://canoe.ca/CNEWSTopNews/mideast_apr2-ap.html
Israeli tanks roll into 2 West Bank towns
Palestinian gunmen take shelter in birthplace of Jesus
By IBRAHIM HAZBOUN - The Associated Press
BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Scores of Palestinian gunmen were hiding inside one of Christianity's holiest shrines - Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity - on Wednesday, seeking refuge from Israeli troops, helicopters and tanks that invaded the city as part of an offensive aimed at crushing Palestinian militias in the West Bank.
The bodies of four gunmen, shot dead in a firefight on Tuesday, remained sprawled on a sidestreet near the church on Wednesday morning, with rescue services unable to reach them or other casualties because of constant shooting.
A tank was stationed at the edge of Manger Square, adjacent to the church, the army said. Bethlehem Mayor Hana Nasser said soldiers had occupied the municipal building overlooking the square and the church.
Israeli forces pushed into other West Bank centers before dawn Wednesday, entering the northern towns of Salfit and Jenin and the Jelazoun refugee camp near Ramallah, in a search for suspected militants and weapons, the army said.
At the Church of the Nativity - built over the traditional birthplace of Jesus - priests were forced to give refuge to Palestinian police and militiamen, who shot their way in on Tuesday after running battles with Israeli troops firing from helicopter gunships and from tank-mounted machine guns.
As Israeli soldiers encircled the church, the Palestinians rested in pews and on the stone floor, said Samir, a Palestinian policeman inside the church. About 20 of the gunmen were wounded and were being tended to by nuns and priests, Samir said.
"First of all, most of the guys have run out of bullets and secondly, we're completely surrounded," Samir said by telephone.
About 120 armed men were hiding in the church, said Marc Innaro, a correspondent for Italy's RAI TV, who was trapped in the compound by the fighting, along with five colleagues.
Israeli forces have entered Bethlehem several times during the past 18 months of fighting, but they are under orders not to harm holy places, and they have kept their distance from the church.
The West Bank offensive - dubbed "Operation Protective Wall" - seeks to halt a wave of terror attacks against Israelis.
In Jenin, at least 30 tanks rumbled into the town from all sides, exchanging fire with Palestinians at the entrance of a refugee camp, witnesses said. Israeli forces took over several tall buildings that provided views into the camp, they said.
A Palestinian woman, Fadwa Jammal, 27, died after she was shot in the abdomen, said Mohammed Abu Ghali, director of the city's hospital.
Tanks also took up positions in Salfit. The army said that there were exchanges of fire as troops moved into the town but neither side reported casualties.
In the West Bank commercial center of Ramallah, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remained pinned down by Israeli troops and tanks, his compound now ringed by barbed wire.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed publicly for the first time that diplomats fly Arafat into exile. Sharon noted that such a move would require Cabinet approval, but Arafat swiftly rejected the offer, saying he would rather be a "martyr" than leave.
"Is it his (Sharon's) homeland or ours?" Arafat said in an interview Tuesday night with the Arab satellite TV station Al Jazeera.
Arafat also criticized Israel's Bethlehem incursion: "Today they attacked Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Can you imagine? They are striking the church of the Virgin Mary."
Israel TV on Tuesday showed footage of military chief Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz urging Sharon to expel Arafat.
During a joint visit to an army base in the West Bank, Mofaz was seen telling Sharon: "We should kick him out." Sharon - apparently unaware his comments were being recorded - replied, "I know." Mofaz continued: "This is an opportunity now that won't return."
Israeli forces spent much of Tuesday battering the compound of West Bank Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub with shellfire and rockets. By nightfall, most of the about 400 Palestinians trapped inside the building had surrendered to Israeli troops. Witnesses reported gunfire near the compound overnight, but it was not immediately clear whether any Palestinians remained inside.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the offensive would last about three to four weeks, the first senior Israeli official to give a timeframe. However, Sharon has said the campaign was open-ended.
In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday that Israel should end the campaign quickly. But he suggested the United States would not insist on an immediate Israeli withdrawal. "I would guess it will take them (the Israelis) a couple of weeks" to conclude the mission, Powell said on NBC's Today show.
By Wednesday morning, more than 800 suspected militants - men ranging from their mid-teens to their mid-40s - had been rounded up in Ramallah, according to the army and Palestinian security sources. The Palestinians have denounced the mass roundups as collective punishment, but Israel has defended them as a legitimate means of hunting down wanted men.
Late Tuesday, Israeli soldiers foiled a suicide bombing by shooting at explosives strapped to the attacker's chest, detonating the bomb and killing the man before he could get close enough to harm others, the military said.
Soldiers fired at the man, who appeared to have something bulky around his torso, after he charged them at a checkpoint in Baka al-Sharkiyeh, a Palestinian village along the line between Israel and the West Bank, the military said.
The bombing was the seventh such attack in about a week. On Monday night, a 22-year-old Palestinian man blew himself up after police stopped his car in downtown Jerusalem. A policeman also died in the attack.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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