Aug 23 9:46 PM ET Israel Enters Palestinian Territory -->
By NASSER SHIYOUKHI, Associated Press Writer
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) - Responding to
a Palestinian attack, Israeli armored vehicles
Thursday moved into Palestinian
neighborhoods in the volatile West Bank city
of Hebron in one of Israel's deepest incursions
yet into Palestinian territory.
Fifteen Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers
were wounded in shooting before and during
the incursion, Palestinian officials said. The
Israeli military said just one soldier was lightly
wounded and it couldn't confirm any
Palestinian injuries.
The thrust into Hebron came during a day of
violence in which the Israelis fired missiles at a car carrying a suspected
Palestinian militant in the town of Nablus, but missed the target. Israel
said Jihad al-Mussaimi was responsible for several attacks against
Israeli citizens.
Also Thursday, 11-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Zourab was shot
dead in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) during a clash with Israeli
troops following the funeral of a Palestinian killed a day earlier,
Palestinian witnesses and doctors at the Khan Yunis hospital said.
The Israeli forces went into Hebron's hilltop neighborhood of Abu
Sneineh after two Israeli brothers, one 11 years old, were shot and
wounded, Jewish settlers and Palestinian security sources said.
Israeli forces destroyed two buildings and then withdrew, said Israeli
army spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz.
``There was no intention of staying,'' he told The Associated Press,
adding that the incursion was in response to Palestinian gunfire.
The move into Hebron is considered extremely sensitive - about 500
Jewish settlers, who have come under frequent attack, live in the center
of the city, surrounded by some 130,000 Palestinians. A large Israeli
military contingent guards the settlers.
Jewish settlers said the brothers were standing on the balcony of their
house when a bullet struck one of them in the hand and then penetrated
the chest of the 11-year-old.
Hebron settlers have been pressing the Israeli government to take
control of the Abu Sneineh section because of frequent gunfire from
Palestinian militants at the Jewish enclave below. In March, a
10-month-old Jewish girl was killed by a gunshot.
Palestinians have been demanding that the settlers leave Hebron and
blame them for attacks on their property.
It was the second time in less than two weeks that Israeli forces entered
into a Palestinian-controlled city on the West Bank. On Aug. 14 Israeli
tanks rolled into Jenin and leveled a police station. That incursion
following two suicide bombings in less than a week.
Zourab, the 11-year-old Palestinian, was shot in the chest while
Palestinian youths were throwing stones at an Israeli settlement after the
burial of Mahmoud Jasser, one of seven Palestinians killed Wednesday.
The Israeli military said that during the incident, Palestinians tried to tear
down the fence around the Israeli settlement, and that soldiers fired
warning shots and then fired at demonstrators' legs. The army was still
``checking to see if the Palestinian youth was killed by Israeli fire,'' its
statement said.
In the attack against al-Mussaimi, the suspected Palestinian militant,
Israel's military tracked down his car in the West Bank town of Nablus
and fired the missiles. It was the second failed Israeli attack against a
suspected militant in two days.
Israel's military said in a statement that al-Mussaimi had been
imprisoned from 1979-87 for involvement in bombings and that in
recent years he was ``responsible for a long line of shootings and
bombing attacks against soldiers and Israeli citizens.''
Palestinians said al-Mussaimi is a local leader in Yasser Arafat (news -
web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites) group and until recently an officer
in the Nablus police force.
The first missile hit the ground in front of the car, spraying the vehicle
with shrapnel. Al-Mussaimi, who suffered injuries to his right leg,
managed to jump out before the second missile hit the car. Four people
were hurt.
Since the Mideast violence began last September, Israel has killed more
than 50 Palestinians in targeted attacks against militants. Israel says the
militants belong to organizations that have carried out suicide attacks
against Israelis that have claimed dozens of lives.
Many of the Israeli raids have been carried out with Apache helicopters,
though the Israelis have also employed exploding car headrests,
booby-trapped telephones and snipers.
``While we miss today, we may catch them the next time,'' said Raanan
Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).
``The continuous pressure on these individuals disrupts their operations,
puts them off balance, requires them to constantly watch themselves.''
In a statement, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the
helicopter attacks ``showed (Israel's) ability to reach its targets.''
Ben-Eliezer discussed area tensions with U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld in a phone call Thursday, the statement said.
In most cases, the Israelis have killed their intended target, and in
several instances, Palestinian women, children and other bystanders
have also lost their lives.
In Gaza City, several thousand Palestinians marched through the streets
in a funeral procession for Bilal al-Ghoul, a 21-year-old Palestinian
activist killed in an Israeli helicopter strike Wednesday that targeted his
father.
``Revenge, revenge,'' shouted the crowd, while members of the Palestinian security forces fired their
automatic rifles into the air. |
