Free Term Papers and Essays on the West Bank
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians, including two
policemen early today, during their latest incursion into Palestinian territory,
and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to wage a "massive campaign"
against Islamic extremists in Gaza.
The two Palestinian policemen were
killed when Israeli troops stormed the Palestinian government headquarters in
the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian security officials said. Eight other
policemen were wounded.
The
Israeli military said soldiers entered Hebron to operate against the "terrorist
infrastructure" there. A military statement said a "large number" of suspects
had been arrested. Also, soldiers said they discovered an explosives laboratory.
Residents said soldiers declared a curfew over the city.
Six
other Palestinians were killed by helicopter missile strikes yesterday,
including four members of the militant group Hamas, the group said. Israel said
a senior Hamas activist was among those killed.
Israeli troops encircled
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters early yesterday for the
third time this month.
The latest turmoil came as President Bush called
for a new Palestinian leadership - one "not compromised by terror" - and set
stiff conditions for a Palestinians state.
Sharon echoed Bush's call for
new leadership, but Arafat aide Saeb Erekat said the demand was "not
acceptable." Arafat himself welcomed Bush's ideas as a "serious effort to push
the peace process forward" in a statement that ignored the call for a leadership
change.
As progress is made on security matters, Bush said, Israel
should remove its forces from West Bank areas under Palestinian control before
violence erupted in September 2000. Israeli forces now control six of the eight
main Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank: Jenin, Nablus, Qalqiliya,
Ramallah, Tulkarem and Bethlehem. Hebron could be the seventh, leaving just
Jericho.
At least 600,000 Palestinians in the West Bank are confined to
their homes by army curfews. Restrictions were briefly lifted in Nablus and
Qalqiliya so residents could shop and go to school.
A major six-week
military offensive earlier this year aimed at wiping out militias behind terror
attacks also focused on the West Bank, leaving the Gaza Strip - where top
militia leaders are based - largely unscathed. This time, Sharon warned that
Gaza would not be spared.
"We are preparing massive activity against
Hamas in the Strip," Sharon said, adding that it had begun with the Israeli
helicopter missile strikes on two cars yesterday in the southern Gaza Strip. He
did not say what might follow.
Six Palestinians were killed in the
missile strikes in Rafah and five Palestinians were injured. Four of the dead
belonged to Hamas, the militant group said.
Israel said it targeted and
killed Yasser Rizik, a "senior Hamas activist" who was allegedly behind a
January attack that killed four Israeli soldiers.
After the missile
strike, Hamas renewed its threats against Israel as Israeli and Palestinian
authorities cracked down on the group, which has carried out scores of suicide
bombings against Israelis.
Palestinian police also surrounded the Gaza
City home of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin early yesterday, and
Palestinian authorities said he was under house arrest. But Yassin invited
journalists inside later in the day and said he was unaware of any such order.
"No one has informed me about any house arrest decision, and there is no
agreement - and there is no preparation - for any house arrest," he said.
After brief scuffles between Hamas supporters and police, Palestinian
police pulled back from near Yassin's home. Masked Hamas gunmen patrolled the
sandy streets outside the house and about 60 people gathered with a Hamas flag.
Israeli forces arrested 10 Palestinians in the Hebron area yesterday,
most of them Hamas members. Palestinian authorities also have said they'd
arrested dozens of Hamas members in Gaza in recent days.
In Ramallah,
the Palestinian political headquarters in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers took
up positions around Arafat's offices as a bulldozer barricaded the front gate
and nearby streets with stones and debris.
More than 20 tanks were
parked on the streets that surround Arafat's compound by afternoon, and forces
fanned out throughout Ramallah, imposing a curfew on residents of the city and
adjoining al-Bireh.
Arafat was inside the compound with security aides
and was not harmed.