Guardian - Angry Palestinians Lash Out ...
Angry Palestinians Lash Out at Militants
Tuesday May 20, 2003 6:29 PM
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press Writer
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian residents of a northern Gaza town demonstrated Tuesday after Israelis destroyed buildings and farms there in a five-day invasion, but in a rare twist, their wrath was directed at Palestinian militants for firing rockets from their property, not at the Israelis.
Israeli forces pulled back to the edge of the town, Beit Hanoun, a letup that came despite a bloody wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that killed 12 bystanders, hinting Israel might not undertake a large-scale punitive military operation that would further weaken the new Palestinian premier, Mahmoud Abbas.
On the day Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to have met U.S. President George W. Bush - Sharon called off the trip because of the bombings - Bush telephoned Abbas, their first talk since Abbas took office April 30.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said they talked Tuesday for 15 minutes. ``The president stressed the need for all parties to take concrete steps'' to stop violence and resume peace talks, Fleischer said.
Bush said he is still committed to the international ``road map'' peace plan, said Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr, and Abbas ``stressed the importance of Israel's implementing the road map, freezing settlements and stopping their attacks on Palestinians cities and villages,'' he said.
Later, Bush also called Sharon, according to a statement from Sharon's office. It said Bush offered condolences for the victims of the recent suicide bombings, and Sharon said he favored negotiations for real peace, but ``in order to make progress, terrorism must be quelled.'' Sharon and Bush agreed to reschedule the meeting that was supposed to take place Tuesday, the statement said, but did not give a date.
Interviewed in Gaza by Israel TV's Channel 10, Abbas repeated his denunciation of the recent suicide bomb attacks. ``They sabotage the process the same as Israeli occupation sabotages the process,'' he said. ``The whole situation is tragic, the attacks in Israel and the destruction on our side.''
Abbas was appointed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who gave in to intense international pressure to share power. Abbas has said he will stop militants from carrying out attacks against Israel.
However, Abbas and Sharon disagree over methods and timing. Sharon insists on a Palestinian crackdown on militant groups, disarming cells and imprisoning leaders, while Abbas favors dialogue.
``We asked them to work as political parties, Abbas said in an interview with the Cairo daily Al-Arabya, published Tuesday. ``We don't seek clashing or a civil war.''
Also, Israel demands that the crackdown begin before Israel makes any of the moves mandated by the road map - easing travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza, pulling troops back from Palestinian cities and towns and halting construction of Jewish settlements.
The Palestinians say steps must be taken in parallel, according to the wording of the road map, a three-stage, three-year plan that starts with an end to 31 months of violence and leads to creation of a Palestinian state.
Sharon has posed 15 reservations to the plan, most of them about security, and was to discuss them in the talks originally set for Tuesday.
The wave of attacks - five suicide bombings in two days - was a setback for the road map plan, backed by the ``Quartet'' of Mideast mediators - the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia.
In the latest bombing, a Palestinian woman, 19-year-old Hiba Daraghmeh, blew herself up at a back entrance of a shopping mall in the northern Israeli town of Afula on Monday, killing three Israelis, including an Israeli Arab and a security guard.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops moved back to the outskirts of Beit Hanoun in northeast Gaza but continued to hold territory inside the Gaza fence, where militants often set up and fire primitive Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, less than a half-mile away.
Two hours after the pullback, angry residents of Beit Hanoun, a town of 35,000, took to the streets in a spontaneous demonstration, complaining that the militants had caused Israel to destroy their property. It was a rare outburst; most Palestinian demonstrations are aimed against Israel.
The residents said the Israeli military demolished 15 houses, uprooted thousands of trees and damaged the water and sewage systems.
The demonstrators blocked a main road with trash cans, rocks and burning tires in a show of outrage against the militants. Most of the rockets are launched by members of the violent Islamic Hamas.
``They (the militants) claim they are heroes,'' said Mohammed Zaaneen, 30, a farmer, as he carried rocks into the street. ``They brought us only destruction and made us homeless. They used our farms, our houses and our children ... to hide.''
The small, unguided Qassam rockets have crashed into Sderot many times over the past year, causing some damage but no serious injuries.
During the Israeli takeover, eight Palestinians were killed in clashes - four gunmen and four teens, ages 13, 15 and 17. Three of the teens were throwing stones at Israeli tanks when they were shot by troops. Sixty-five residents were wounded, including 20 under the age of 15, doctors said.
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